India records highest growth rate in visitor arrivals for Singapore

New Delhi [India], Feb 23 (ANI): For the third time in a row, Visitor Arrivals (VA) from India to Singapore crossed the one million mark, reinforcing it as one of the most preferred destinations for Indian travelers, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced.

For the first time, India has moved up from fourth to third place, ahead of Malaysia and behind China, and Indonesia as a VA source market for Singapore, the tourism board said.

It recorded the highest growth rate of 16 percent among all markets.

Six others out of the top fifteen markets, including China (+13 percent), Vietnam (+13 percent) and USA (+9 percent) also saw record high VA.

While Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Bengaluru continue to remain their top VA source cities, STB's efforts to engage travelers from cities like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Pune have resulted in double-digit VA growth from these cities.

"We thank the Indian travelers and our travel trade partners for the record 1.27 million Indian visitors to our country in 2017. We are happy that Singapore continues to be perceived as one of the must-visit destinations. This year, STB will focus on deepening and expanding our partnership with our travel trade partners and promoting our new brand creatively and effectively," said regional director - SAMEA, Singapore Tourism Board, GB Srithar.

"We will continue to showcase Singapore's diverse offerings and connect with key audience segments including families, early and established careers, cruise travelers, meetings and incentive groups and travelers from the key metro and secondary cities. With overall tourist outbound from India on the rise, we look forward to another successful year of Indian visitorship to Singapore.We warmly welcome them to live up their passion for exciting travel experiences in our city," Srithar added.

India continued to be the top source market for VA in the cruise segment for Singapore, as well.

127,000 cruise passengers from India sailed out of Singapore's shores in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent from 2016.

Moreover, 2017 was a landmark year for STB. It unveiled the country's new, unified brand identity 'Passion made Possible' in August 2017.

This was launched with an intensive media outreach in key markets followed by the successful 'Singapore Weekender' at Sassoon Docks, Mumbai in association with St+art Foundation and Impresario Group.

It was a busy and rewarding year of engaging travelers with strategic associations including the Bollywood movie Badrinath Ki Dulhania, tie up with a TV show called Singapore Insider with internet-entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo on NDTV Good Times, organising the India Cruise Forum, participating in travel trade events such as SATTE, joint marketing promotions with pan-India and regional travel trade partners, and launch of a comprehensive 'Vegetarian Food Guide'.

2018 has already begun on an exciting note for STB with the recently concluded roadshows at Mumbai and Jaipur, followed by participation in SATTE 2018 in Delhi.

Taking the brand identity forward, STB India's activities this year will be centered around the theme 'With Passion, Forging New Possibilities'. (ANI)