Hotels feel the burn as Singapore tourism drops by 4.3 per cent

According to the city-state's tourism board, Singapore saw a fall in Tourist arrivals by 4.3 per cent in 2009 to 9.7 million. Hotels were hit hard as visitors stayed away due to the economic

recession and the H1N1 flu outbreak. A strong rebound in the last quarter allowed for a "very credible" performance over the whole year, tourism board chief executive Aw Kah Peng said.

For the month of December, visitor arrivals reached a record 971,000.

However, the board said that tourism receipts over the year were estimated at 12.4 billion Singapore dollars (8.7 billion US dollars), 19 per cent less from a year earlier.

Average room rate fell 22.3 per cent to 191 Singapore dollars as hotels were hit hard. Average revenue per hotel room - including rooms that remained vacant - was down 26.6 per cent to

146 Singapore dollars in 2009.

There was an overall slump of 28.3 per cent from a year earlier in the room revenue for Singapore's hotels in 2009 and it was 1.51 billion Singapore dollars.

The tourism board is to present its forecast for 2010 in March, Aw said, adding that "we expect the growth momentum from the last quarter 2009 to continue."

To restore the fortunes of Singapore's ailing tourism industry, hopes are mainly laid on two new multibillion-dollar casino resorts, designed to attract visitors from across the Asia-Pacific region.

One is the Resorts World Sentosa, which includes South-East Asia's first Universal Studios theme park. It  has already opened some of its hotels and received the gambling licence for its casino

last weekend. Second is the Marina Bay Sands, located in the heart of the financial district, is slated to open in April at the earliest. (With Input from Agencies)