Visitor arrivals to Singapore reached 780,000 in April 2009, registering a year-on-year percentage decline of 6.1%, and a smaller decline compared to the double digit decline in visitor arrivals recorded in the past three months. Visitor days were estimated at 3.2 million days, a year-on-year decrease of 3.3% in comparison with April 2008.

In April 2009, Indonesia (127,000), P.R. China (87,000), Australia (65,000), India (56,000) and Malaysia (51,000) were Singapore’s top five visitor-generating markets. These markets accounted for 50% of total visitor arrivals for the month. Among the top 15 markets, Hong Kong (+41.3%), Philippines (+13.4%), Vietnam (+13.4%), Germany (+12.4%) and Australia (+3.1%) registered growth. This can be attributed mainly to the Easter holiday period.

The Average Occupancy Rate was 71% for April 2009, an 11.9 percentage point decline over April 2008. The Average Room Rate for April 2009 was estimated at Sin$186, a decrease of 27.4% over April 2008. Revenue Per Available Room decreased by 37.8% to reach Sin$132 in April 2009. Hotel room revenue was estimated to reach Sin$110 million, a decline of 40.2% against April 2008. In April 2009, hotels in the Mid-Tier achieved the highest AOR (74%), and the least decline (-11.3%) in AOR, in comparison to the same month last year.

Hotels in the Economy Tier recorded the smallest decrease (-23.7%) in ARR in April 2009, compared to the same month last year. Hotels in the Economy Tier also saw the least decline in Revpar (-34.2%) in April 2009, compared to April 2008.