Singapore says it’s ready for 2022 travel demand when it returns

There are “encouraging signs of recovery” in Singapore’s tourism sector, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.

Visitor arrivals reached 330,000 and tourism receipts reached an estimated $1.9 billion Singapore dollars ($1.4 billion) in 2021, according to data published today by the nation’s tourism board.

These numbers, however, are down from 2020, when Singapore received 2.7 million visitors, who spent nearly $4.8 billion Singapore dollars that year.

Singapore’s tourism sector recorded overall year-on-year declines in visitor numbers and tourism expenditures from 2020 to 2021, due to the “strong tourism performance in the first two months of 2020,” according to the media release.

Singapore closed its borders in March 2020 in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Acknowledging that last year’s tourism numbers represent “only a fraction of Singapore’s tourism performance prior to the pandemic,” the Singapore Tourism Board said it’s seeing positive trends such as growth in the last three quarters of 2021.

During this time, international visitor arrivals increased 221%, compared to the same timeframe in 2020.

Singapore said recently it will continue to limit the number of people who can enter the country through its quarantine-free, vaccinated travel lane arrangement. The sales of flight tickets will be capped at 50% of allocated quotas.

However, some restrictions are easing. Those who enter the country from Jan. 24 via vaccinated travel lane (VTL) flights can do unsupervised, self-administered rapid Covid tests for seven days after arrival if they intend to leave their place of residence. Submission of results is not required.