Casinos boost Singapore visitor numbers
Singapore appears to be enjoying a casino-fuelled visitor boom.
The city-state welcomed 30.3 percent more visitors in May than the same month a year ago.
Some 946,000 people visited Singapore last month, up from 939,000 in April and 726,000 in May 2009.
The figure was the largest ever for the month of May and followed record highs for the months of December to April.
Indonesia, India and Malaysia provided the largest number of visitors, while arrivals from Hong Kong chalked up the strongest growth of 48.8 percent compared with a year ago.
Singapore hopes to double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015, and is counting on mega casino-resorts opened this year by Malaysia’s Genting Bhd and Las Vegas Sands to help drive tourism and economic growth.
Las Vegas Sands said last week its $5.5 billion Singapore casino has exceeded forecasts since opening in April and could draw up to 150,000 visitors a day once operations are in full swing.
According to the Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore hotels reported an average occupancy rate of 85 percent in May, up 17.1 percent points from 68 percent a year earlier, pushing the average room rate up by 13.4 percent from a year ago to S$209 a night.
Ian Jarrett
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