Visitor arrivals to Singapore fell by 8.9% to 750,000 in June 2009, with marked declines in numbers from China, Japan and South Korea attributable in part to the global outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) according

to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

In terms of country performance, Singapore's top five visitor-generating markets accounting for 54% of total arrivals in June were as follows: Indonesia (159,000), India (79,000), Australia (66,000), Malaysia (61,000) and China (42,000).

Among the top 15 markets, Malaysia (+15.3%), Vietnam (+3.2%) and Indonesia (+3.1%) registered growth and the STB says that this can be attributed to its aggressive airline and marketing promotions under the ‘2009 Reasons to enjoy Singapore’ global marketing campaign. The STB adds that the growth in Malaysian visitors is also due to an increase in visitors

Meanwhile, the STB also reports that gazetted hotel room revenue is estimated at S$115m ($80m) in June, representing a decrease of 35.3% compared to June 2008. The Average Occupancy Rate stood at 76% in June 2009 – a 5.3% fall on June 2008.

The STB concluded that visitor days were estimated to have numbered 3.2m, which represents a decrease of 8.4% in comparison with June 2008. At the same time, it reports that the average daily hotel room rate for June 2009 was around S$179 ($125) – a decrease of 28.3% over June 2008.