Xinhua NewsSingapore in August posted the smallest decline in tourist arrivals so far in 2009, data released Monday by the Tourism Board showed, but the city-state’s hotels continued to suffer from slumping revenues. Visitor arrivals to Singapore reached 844,000 in August, a decline of 0.7 per cent compared with the same month a year earlier.
But hotel revenues were estimated at 125 million Singapore dollars (88 million US dollars), a drop of 24.8 per cent compared with August last year, the board said in a statement.
The average room occupancy rate was at 79.5 per cent in August, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points compared with a year ago.
Singapore’s tourism industry saw business plummet in the first half of 2009 as travellers cut back on their spending because of the global economic crisis.
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