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Singapore visitor arrivals drop further in March due to less Chinese and Indonesian visitors

Xinhua, May 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore's international visitor arrivals dropped further in March, with the number of visitors registering a 7.4 percent decline from a year ago mainly due to a sharp fall in travelers from China and Indonesia, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said Monday.

A total of 1.2 million visitors visited Singapore in March, STB said, with business and leisure travelers from China and Indonesia falling significantly by 21 percent and 14.2 percent year-on-year, respectively. The two are the city state's top two tourism markets.

In response, Singapore's Immigration Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said earlier in May that eligible Chinese nationals, mainly business travelers who travel to Singapore from June 1 may be granted Multiple Journey Visas (MJVs) valid for a maximum of 10 years. And the same facility will also be extended to his spouse and children below the age of 21 if the main applicant is eligible.

This is the worst decline since 2015. And for the first three months this year, the number of visitor arrivals was at 3.64 million, a 6.1-percent decrease from a year ago.

STB said it expects visitor arrivals to grow by between 0 and 3 percent this year. Endi