Singapore tourism receipts edge down 0.1% in Q1
This came as international visitor arrivals rose 0.1 per cent year on year (yoy) to 4.31 million, just a touch above 4.30 million in Q1 2024, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures showed on Wednesday (Jul 16).
On a quarterly basis, visitor spending grew 9.4 per cent, from S$7.4 billion in the final quarter of 2024.
'Singapore's tourism sector continues to perform steadily,' said an STB spokesperson.
Major components mixed
The largely consistent TR performance in Q1 2025 came as major components made mixed showings compared with the same quarter in the preceding year.
Expenditure on food and beverages (F&B) increased the most yoy, up 14.1 per cent to S$1.3 billion. This was followed by accommodation, where TR rose 6.5 per cent to S$1.4 billion.
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The 'other components' segment – which includes spending on airfares on Singapore-based carriers, port taxes, local transportation, business, medical, education and transit visitors – was also up 4.1 per cent to S$2.5 billion.
In contrast, shopping TR slowed 2.5 per cent to S$1.3 billion; and the sightseeing, entertainment and gaming (SEG) component moderated 16 per cent compared with the corresponding 2024 period.
But STB noted that the first quarter of last year 'featured an exceptional line-up of events', including the Singapore Airshow 2024 and Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concerts.
Singapore hotels' average room rates, revenues, and occupancy for Q1 2025 similarly fell on a yearly basis.
Quarter on quarter, the higher TR was due to growth in spending across all major components except shopping, where TR declined marginally. F&B expenditure picked up most on a quarterly basis, at 16.9 per cent.
China drives receipts
By market, Mainland China remained the top TR generator for Singapore tourism in the Q1 2025, contributing S$1.3 billion in revenue, excluding the SEG segment. This was up 9.3 per cent from its S$1.2 billion contribution to TR in Q1 2024.
'Mainland China's top TR-contributing market position is consistent with its strong IVA (international visitor arrival) performance in Q1 2025, boosted by the 30-day mutual visa exemption and the Chinese New Year peak travel season,' said the STB spokesperson.
China was the source of 831,472 tourists to Singapore in the quarter.
In Q1 2025, Indonesia (S$719.8 million) and Australia (S$538 million) were the second and third-largest contributors to TR respectively. The US (S$474.6 million) and India (S$342.9 million) rounded out the list of Singapore's top five TR-generating markets.
Indonesia was the origin of 640,259 visitors; 312,218 came from Malaysia; 308,124 arrived from Australia; and 261,456 hailed from India.
Among these key markets, Australia and the US both recorded strong TR growth of nearly 15 per cent yoy, which the STB spokesperson attributed to robust spending on accommodation and F&B.
The spokesperson also pointed to F&B as a strong growth driver in general, with eight of the top 10 markets recording yearly growth in this segment in Q1 2025.
This growth, they said, reflects 'Singapore's growing appeal as (a) culinary destination, and follows STB's launch of a marketing campaign in October 2024 to position Singapore as a culinary capital, showcasing the city's vibrant, diverse and innovative food scene to a global audience'.
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Years of investing heavily in research and development for their B2B arm have paid off. 'We have this whole in-house setup where corporates can give us a vague idea of what they want and our R&D, design and marketing teams will just bring it to life,' she said. These capabilities, she noted, have to an extent girded them against the vagaries of an increasingly volatile rental market. Other external pressures brought to bear upon the business include the COVID-19 pandemic that hit like a sledgehammer to their China operations. 'From over 60 stores, we were whittled down to just a handful in two cities,' she revealed, adding that conditions in the mainland remain challenging amid a sluggish economy. While the pandemic took its toll on business in Singapore, Lee says they pulled through by biting the bullet and forgoing their salaries, for the most part, during those trying months. 'One of my business partners who did a lot of work restructuring companies during the Asian Financial Crisis shared that those that made it had teams that came together and believed that they would come out stronger if they made the sacrifices,' she related. 'When everyone starts thinking about themselves, that's when you see the whole thing fall apart.' Working with her friends for close to three decades, she insists, has been a blast, with no major conflict to grouse of. 'I'm very much a frontline person — I always think like a customer. Some of my partners, on the other hand, aren't that way,' she laughed. 'But that's the wonderful diversity and synergy between different personalities.' While the close-knit group may wax facetious about the 'cliche' of building a business on Lee's love of chocolate, it's proven to be a richly layered endeavour. For one, delving into the nuances of the Singaporean palate has deepened her appreciation for her country itself. Locals, she observes, tend to favour dark chocolate that's neither overly rich nor cloying, with a warm, toasty finish. 'I almost liken this to how amazing Singapore's food is. Like how there must be wok hei (smokiness),' enthused Lee. She volunteered that she eats chocolate cake for breakfast — a habit her kids 'find weird.' 'I love that we have our own Singaporean identity when it comes to chocolate preference, and I hope that we can share that more with the world.'
