Tourism spend to reach all-time high for 2024

Chinese, Indonesian, and Australian tourists are the top spenders.

Tourism spending is expected to beat the 2019 all-time high record of $27.7b in 2024, a report from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) revealed.

Because of the tourism sector’s strong performance, it expects tourism receipts (TR) to reach the upper bounds of its forecast for 2024 at $27.5b to $29b.

TR reached $22.4b between January and September 2024, an increase of 10% compared to the same period in 2023. All spend categories have shown year-on-year growth, led by Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming (SEG) at 25%, followed by Accommodation at 17%.

Meanwhile, Food & Beverage (F&B) and Shopping saw a 6% and 5% increase respectively, with other categories such as airfares and business spending contributing to TR as well.

Mainland China, Indonesia, and Australia emerged as the top tourism receipts generating markets, contributing $3.58b, $2.13b, and $1.44b respectively (excluding Sightseeing, Entertainment and Gaming). Notably, Mainland China and Japan showed strong year-on-year growth in tourism receipts.

Top markets for visitor arrivals were Mainland China (3.08 million), Indonesia (2.49 million) and India (1.20 million). Other markets that exhibited healthy year-on-year mid and long-haul markets. Contributing factors included the growth included Japan, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA, representing a good mix of short, 30-day mutual visa exemption with Mainland China, and Singapore’s strong growth in air connectivity.

In 2024, Changi Airport had a total international seat capacity of over 41 million, representing a 15% increase compared to 2023 and 98% recovery to 2019.4

STB expects 2025 international visitor arrivals to reach between 17 to 18.5 million, bringing in approximately $29b to $30.5b in tourism receipts.