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Total expenditure also grew 2.5 times to $22.95 billion in 2018 from $8.85 billion in 2009, with an average daily spending amount of $376.04.
Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index showed that Singapore is the second most popular travel destination in the Asia-Pacific region, behind only Bangkok, reported Singapore Business Review.
Singapore’s overnight international visitors almost doubled from 7.5 million in 2009 to 14.7 million in 2018, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent over the same period.
Total nights spent within the city-state by these visitors grew to 60.9 million nights in 2018 from 38.6 million nights in 2009, translating to a 5.2 percent CAGR during the nine-year period.
Visitors from China accounted for the bulk of the country’s visitors, followed by those from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
Total expenditure also grew 2.5 times to $22.95 billion in 2018 from $8.85 billion in 2009, with an average daily spending amount of $376.04.
“The combination of world-class tourist attractions, MICE facilities and retail experiences, the convenience and accessibility to a well-connected public transport network and technologically sophisticated infrastructure such as SimplyGo, a contactless card payment service for transit, creates an exceptional travel experience for visitors,” said Mastercard’s country manager for Singapore Deborah Heng.
In contrast, Bangkok drew 22.8 million overnight international arrivals. Placing behind Singapore are Kuala Lumpur (13.8 million visitors), Tokyo (12.9 million visitors) and Seoul (11.3 million visitors), which placed third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Primarily driven by huge growth in outbound travel from mainland China, these five cities captured 25.2 percent of the overall international travel spending in the Asia Pacific region.
They also account for over 22 percent of the total overnight visitors in the region.
The region has also been the destination of 342.2 million business and leisure trips, an increase from 159.1 million in 2009.
Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
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