Singapore’s tourism sector saw a downturn in visitor arrivals in March 2025. According to latest figures released by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the city-state registered 1.30 million visitor arrivals in March, marking a 5.8 percent decrease compared to last month. This represents an 11.5 percent drop against the same period in 2024.
Of the total visitor arrivals, 932,530 were overnight visitors, representing a 17.1 percent year-on-year decline. Despite the March dip, Singapore’s performance in the first quarter of 2025 remained largely flat compared to Q1 2024, with a total of 4.31 million visitor arrivals. Among these, 3.17 million were overnight visitors. This translates to 73.5 percent of the total arrivals during the quarter. However, this segment saw a 3.3 percent decline from the same period last year.
China remains top source market
The tourism board’s data indicates that the average length of stay for international visitors in the first quarter was 3.49 days, a 1.2 percent increase year-on-year. China remained Singapore’s top source market for the quarter, contributing 831,470 visitor arrivals from January to March. This marked a 5.8 percent increase year-on-year and represents a recovery of 86.6 percent compared to the same period in 2019.
Indonesia, traditionally the second-largest market for Singapore tourism, saw a 3.7 percent year-on-year decline in Q1 2025, with 640,260 arrivals. This represents an 88.3 percent recovery compared to the same period in 2019. Arrivals from Malaysia witnessed a marginal 0.5 percent decline, contributing 312,220 visitors during the first quarter.
Projection for the year
In February, the STB said it expected the country to see between 17 million and 18.5 million visitor arrivals in 2025. This is expected to generate around SG$29.0 billion to SG$30.5 billion in tourism receipts. In 2024, Singapore registered 16.5 million visitor arrivals. The country recorded that tourism receipts for the first nine months of the year reached SG$22.4 billion. However, the tourism receipts for the fiscal year of 2024 will be available in the second quarter of 2025.
Earlier this year, Singapore blocked over 3,800 illegal gambling websites and 145,000 gambling transactions involving the public. Days after the report, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said that while the efforts have made some progress, they are not foolproof. As of December 31, 2024, the blocked websites and transactions amounted to approximately SG$ 37 million, confirmed the minister.
