Singapore sees tourism revenue down 19 percent

Tourist income will  likely fall  to between  12  billion  Singapore  dollars ($8 billion) and SG$12.5 billion this  year  from  SG$14.8  billion  last year,  the  Singapore  Tourism  Board said Wednesday. The board expects tourist arrivals to drop to between 9 million and 9.5 million in 2009 from 10.1 million in 2008.

The  government  plans  to  spend SG$90 million  this year on marketing, training and lower fees for travel agents  in  a  bid  to  attract  visitors, more  than  the  SG$30 million  spent on  advertising  in  2003,  when  an outbreak of  the SARS virus  slowed tourist arrivals to 6.1 million.

"The year ahead will be difficult and challenging," said Aw Kah Peng, the board's chief executive. "But it's not a complete closure as in SARS. People are still traveling."

Singapore is counting on the tourism sector — highlighted by the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino resort — to create 12,000 new jobs this year. The resort, which is being built by casino operator Las Vegas Sands, was expected to open in the fourthquarter, but Aw declined to confirm project was still on schedule.

"We're still working with them,"Aw said. "Even as the fourth quarter gets nearer,  I  think  it's premature  to say how it will happen.

"Arrivals fell 1.6 percent in 2008,and while  tourist  revenue  rose  to  a record  last  year,  it  fell  short  of  the government's  goal  of  SG$15.5  billion.

Singapore’s tourism industry is being hit hard along with the country’s manufacturing and financial sectors. The government expects the economy to  contract  as  much  as  5percent  this year after gross domestic  product  shrank  12.5  percent  in the fourth quarter from  the previous quarter.

The government has tried to ease the country’s dependence on manufacturing, but non-oil exports still account for about two-thirds of GDP while tourism is just 6 percent. About 17 percent of visitors to Singapore last year came from Indonesia, followed by China, Australia, India and Malaysia.