SINGAPORE – China’s first ever tourism law, which came into effect in October 2013, did more than simply regulate an industry with more than 2.3 trillion yuan ($376bn). It came down hard on the opportunistic tour operators who would sell cheap “shopping tours”.
According to an article in The Straits Times, an English-language daily newspaper in Singapore, this new law has resulted in a 31% drop in the number of Chinese visiting Singapore. This is the bad news.
The good news is that the Chinese who did visit Singapore between October and December 2013 spent 1% more than all the Chinese who vacationed there during the same period in 2012.
The Straits Times reported that fewer Chinese visited Singapore on multi-country package tours, but more visited on their own. Edward Chew, a member of the Singapore Tourism Board, told the newspaper: “These travellers tend to stay longer than those on multi-destination package tours”.
This means that despite the fall in visitor arrivals in the last quarter of last year, tourism receipts have gone up, he said.
According to statistics released by Singapore’s tourism board, Singapore welcomed 2.27 million Chinese visitors last year, up 12% from 2012. They spent an estimated 2.4bn, a year-on year rise of 18%. The Indonesians, who were once the biggest-spending tourists up until 2007, spent just under that amount.
Chinese tourism to Singapore down 31 percent
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