Singapore visitor arrivals in August dipped from July

The 996,000 people who came to Singapore last month was the highest-ever recorded for August, and marked the ninth consecutive month when visitor arrivals hit a record for the month, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in a statement. Visitor arrivals in July jumped 24.1 % to 1.1 million - a record high.

Singaporean hosting of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games and the continuing strength of Asian economies also contributed to the strong growth in visitor arrivals in August, STB said.

Indonesia contributed the largest number of visitors with 165,000 in August, while China was the fastest-growing market for Singapore's tourism industry, with visitor arrivals jumping 51 % to 131,000. STB's figures do not include the thousands who cross over from Malaysia daily by land.

STB said average occupancy rate at Singapore hotels in August rose to 85 %, a gain of 7.6 percentage points compared with a year ago, while average room rate increased by 24.7 % a night from a year ago.

Singapore legalised casino gaming in 2005 as part of a plan to double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015. Genting Singapore's Resorts World opened its doors in February this year while Las Vegas Sands' Singapore casino started operations in April.