Singapore Tourism Spending Hits Record S$23.9 Billion as Quality Over Quantity Strategy Pays Off

Record-Breaking Tourism Receipts Defy Global Economic Headwinds

Singapore’s tourism sector has achieved a historic milestone, with visitor spending reaching an unprecedented S$23.9 billion (US$18.8 billion) during the first three quarters of 2025. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced on February 3 that this figure represents a 6.5 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024, establishing the highest tourism receipts ever recorded for a nine-month timeframe. This robust performance positions the city-state to surpass its full-year projection of S$29 billion to S$30.5 billion, following a record-breaking 2024 when full-year receipts hit S$29.8 billion.

The growth trajectory reflects a deliberate strategic shift away from mass tourism toward what industry experts describe as quality tourism. Despite receiving 16.9 million international visitor arrivals in 2025, a modest 2.3 per cent increase from the previous year and still below the pre-pandemic peak of 19.1 million recorded in 2019, spending per visitor has climbed significantly. This divergence between volume and value illustrates Singapore’s success in attracting higher-yield travelers who prioritize immersive experiences over conventional sightseeing, with expenditure per visitor rising 24.4 per cent compared to 2019 levels.

The Experience Economy Reshapes Spending Patterns

Analysis of tourism receipts reveals a fundamental transformation in how visitors allocate their travel budgets. Food and beverage expenditures have emerged as a primary growth driver, increasing by 15 per cent year-on-year alongside sightseeing, entertainment, and gaming activities. Chinese tourists exemplify this trend, with their food and beverage spending surging 19 per cent to lead overall consumption growth from that market, which contributed S$3.68 billion in the nine-month period.

This shift marks a decisive departure from pre-pandemic patterns. Compared to 2019, food and beverage tourism receipts have soared 71 per cent, while shopping-related spending has declined by 7.8 per cent and accommodation receipts dipped 7 per cent. The change reflects broader industry dynamics, including the rise of e-commerce reducing the appeal of retail tourism, and travelers increasingly seeking authentic, in-person experiences that cannot be replicated online. Dining at Michelin-starred hawker stalls, attending exclusive concerts, and participating in adventure-based wildlife encounters now command larger portions of visitor budgets than traditional luxury shopping, aligning with Singapore’s UNESCO-recognized hawker culture and expanding culinary landscape.

Key Markets Contribute Billion-Dollar Investments

Mainland China, Indonesia, and Australia have solidified their positions as Singapore’s most valuable tourism markets, generating S$3.68 billion, S$2.09 billion, and S$1.54 billion respectively during the nine-month period. These figures exclude the lucrative sightseeing, entertainment, and gaming category, suggesting total spending from these markets is substantially higher when accounting for integrated resort activities.

Australia delivered particularly noteworthy results, contributing a record 1.3 million visitors in 2025, representing an 8 per cent increase from the previous year. India also demonstrated strong momentum, with 1.2 million arrivals generating S$1.17 billion in tourism receipts, a 5 per cent improvement from 2024. The Indian market benefited from targeted initiatives including UPI payment integration across 130,000 merchants, partnerships with IndiGo and Singapore Airlines, and the “Just Between Us Friends” campaign celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations. The “FamJam in Singapore” collaboration with Nickelodeon won a gold award at the GEMA Asia Awards 2025 for its innovative family-focused content integration.

However, not all regional markets showed growth. Arrivals from Vietnam declined to 344,000 from 393,000 in 2024, attributed to greater price sensitivity regarding travel costs. Similarly, Philippine visitor numbers decreased to 726,000 from 779,000, normalizing after a spike driven by large-scale entertainment events in the previous year. Counterbalancing these declines, markets including Japan (+10 per cent), Malaysia (+8 per cent), Germany (+5 per cent), and the United States (+4 per cent) showed healthy expansion, providing a diversified portfolio of short, mid, and long-haul visitors.

World-Class Events and Infrastructure Expansion

Singapore’s calendar of events has proven instrumental in driving premium visitor spending. The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix achieved total attendance of 300,641 across its three-day run, marking an 11.7 per cent increase from 2024. The exclusive Singapore stop of Lady Gaga’s tour, alongside concerts by Blackpink and Seventeen, attracted thousands of international fans willing to pay premium rates for accommodation and dining packages. ART SG, Southeast Asia’s leading international art fair, featured 105 galleries from 30 countries and drew over 41,000 visitors during Singapore Art Week.

New attractions have similarly enhanced the destination’s appeal. Rainforest Wild Asia opened as the city-state’s fifth wildlife park and Asia’s first adventure-based zoological experience, featuring the Wild Apex Adventure climbing facility and AIA Vitality Bounce net. The Singapore Oceanarium at Resorts World Sentosa and Curiosity Cove, Singapore’s largest indoor playscape with over 30 experiential features at Mandai Wildlife Reserve, added to the diverse portfolio of experiences. Jurassic World: The Experience debuted at Gardens by the Bay’s Cloud Forest, while the Chinatown Heritage Centre reopened with immersive exhibits and character-led tours.

The hospitality sector expanded with 644 new hotel keys, including prestigious openings such as Raffles Sentosa Singapore, the country’s first villa-only luxury property and second Raffles hotel, alongside Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, The Laurus at Resorts World Sentosa, and Mama Shelter. The cruise industry demonstrated strong momentum with 375 ship calls, up 10 per cent year-on-year, and over two million passenger throughput, up 9 per cent, cementing Singapore’s position as Southeast Asia’s leading cruise hub with new homeported ships including Royal Caribbean International’s Ovation of the Seas and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s Luminara.

Business Events Deliver Exceptional Economic Value

The meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) sector has emerged as a critical component of Singapore’s quality tourism strategy. Business event visitors typically spend twice as much as leisure travelers, making this segment exceptionally valuable for maximizing tourism receipts per arrival. In 2025, the Sun Pharma Star Club Awards brought 6,100 participants from India, representing the largest meeting and incentive movement from that market.

Major business events including the Milken Institute Asia Summit, which committed to anchor in Singapore from 2026 to 2028, ITMA Asia + CITME, and inaugural Asia editions of HealthTechX Asia 2025 and LSI Asia 2025 filled the corporate calendar. Singapore ranked third worldwide and first in Asia-Pacific according to the International Congress and Convention Association, reinforcing its status as a premier business events destination. Grace Fu, minister for sustainability and the environment and minister-in-charge of trade relations, emphasized the economic value of business events during the Tourism Industry Conference 2025.

MICE visitors spend twice as much as a leisure visitor, making it an exceptionally valuable segment for Singapore.

Looking ahead, STB has set ambitious targets to triple MICE-generated tourism receipts by 2040, increasing the sector’s contribution from 4 per cent to approximately 10 per cent of total tourism revenue. Plans include exploring the feasibility of a dedicated MICE Hub in the downtown area, launching the Business Events Inspired pilot programme with SACEOS to incubate new international events, and extending the Kickstart Fund support from three to four years for home-grown events. The Business Event in Singapore (BEiS) Build Foundation incentive scheme helps defray business development costs for pursuing MICE leads.

Tourism 2040 and the Quality Over Quantity Mandate

Singapore’s record-breaking performance aligns with its Tourism 2040 roadmap, which targets annual tourism receipts between S$47 billion and S$50 billion within the next 15 years. This long-term vision explicitly prioritizes sustainable growth and higher-yield visitors over raw arrival numbers. The strategy appears to be working, spending per visitor has increased 24.4 per cent from 2019 levels, even as total arrivals remain below the pre-pandemic peak.

Melissa Ow, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, emphasized that the 2025 results demonstrate the success of this differentiated approach.

The strong tourism receipts performance in 2025 puts us on a steady trajectory towards achieving our Tourism 2040 ambitions. We are attracting visitors who value the distinctive experiences that Singapore offers. To maintain this growth momentum and reinforce our destination appeal and global hub status, we will continue to develop a strong pipeline of differentiated products, events, and experiences.

The hotel industry maintained stable performance with an average occupancy rate of 81.9 per cent, up from 81.4 per cent in 2024, while the sector achieved over 73 per cent sustainability certification for hotel room stock, exceeding the 60 per cent target set for December 2025. All six purpose-built MICE venues obtained certification, while over 80 per cent of SACEOS members achieved sustainability certification. These metrics indicate healthy capacity utilization without the overcrowding concerns that plague destinations pursuing pure volume growth.

Measured Expectations for 2026 Amid Global Uncertainty

Despite the record-breaking 2025 performance, STB has adopted a cautious stance for 2026, projecting international visitor arrivals between 17 million and 18 million, with tourism receipts forecast at S$31 billion to S$32.5 billion. These projections reflect global economic uncertainty and political instability affecting travel patterns worldwide. DBS Bank senior economist Chua Han Teng noted that Singapore’s strategy of attracting higher-spending visitors is paying off, with the conservative arrival forecasts representing realism rather than weakness.

The 2026 pipeline includes several high-profile draws designed to maintain spending momentum. K-pop phenomenon BTS will perform four nights in Singapore, marking their longest Asian stop outside South Korea and Japan. Disney Cruise Line will establish its first Asia homeport in the city-state with the Disney Adventure, while Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA returns for its only Southeast Asian engagement. The Formula 1 calendar will introduce a new sprint race format, and the Herbalife Extravaganza is expected to bring 25,000 participants for the largest meeting and incentive event in Singapore’s history. The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence held its annual conference in January 2026, the first time in its 40-year history outside the United States.

Analysts note that Singapore’s diversified market portfolio provides resilience against regional economic downturns. With visitors coming from a balanced mix of short, mid, and long-haul markets, the destination avoids over-reliance on any single source country. Dr Samer El Hajjar, senior lecturer of marketing at NUS Business School, observed that Singapore is moving into a more mature phase of recovery, sustainably refining what it wants tourism to do for the economy, for jobs, and for the visitor experience.

Digital Innovation and Sustainable Growth

Technology and sustainability initiatives have bolstered Singapore’s competitive position. The STB’s “We don’t wait for fun” campaign targets Gen Z and millennial travelers through fast-paced digital storytelling across social platforms and partnerships with Spotify, Grab, and Skyscanner. These efforts recognize that travelers aged 25 to 44 now account for over 40 per cent of international arrivals. Branded entertainment collaborations have showcased Singapore through music videos featuring Coldplay’s “Man In The Moon,” BTS Jin’s “Don’t Say You Love Me,” and BLACKPINK Jisoo’s “Your Love,” creating opportunities for over 100 local talents.

Infrastructure investments continue at scale, with Marina Bay Sands breaking ground on a US$8 billion ultra-luxury expansion featuring 570 suites, 200,000 square feet of premium meeting space, and a 15,000-seat arena. The Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore completed a S$40 million expansion increasing passenger capacity from 6,800 to 11,700. The Porsche Experience Centre Singapore broke ground in 2025 for a 2027 opening, while Therme Group was awarded the tender to develop a S$1 billion wellness attraction at Marina South by 2030, expected to attract two million visitors annually.

Singapore ranked top in Asia Pacific and seventh globally in the 2024 Global Destination Sustainability Index, rising ten places from the preceding year. The Tourism Leadership Excellence and Advancement Programme (T-LEAP) trained 75 participants from 35 companies in leadership development, while the partnership with NTUC LearningHub delivered over 1,200 training places in sustainability, technology, and service excellence. Technology pilots supported by the Singapore Tourism Accelerator included AI-driven solutions that reduced hotel sales lead search times by 80 per cent, demonstrating the sector’s commitment to innovation alongside growth.

The Bottom Line

• Singapore achieved record tourism receipts of S$23.9 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, up 6.5 per cent from 2024, putting full-year performance on track to exceed S$29 billion to S$30.5 billion projections
• International visitor arrivals reached 16.9 million, with spending per visitor increasing 24.4 per cent since 2019, demonstrating the success of the quality tourism strategy
• Food and beverage spending grew 15 per cent year-on-year, while sightseeing, entertainment and gaming matched this growth rate, signaling a shift from shopping to experiences
• China, Indonesia and Australia remained the top three markets for tourism receipts, contributing a combined S$7.31 billion, excluding gaming revenues
• The MICE sector continues to drive premium value, with business visitors spending twice as much as leisure tourists, and STB targeting tripled MICE revenue by 2040
• STB projects 2026 tourism receipts between S$31 billion and S$32.5 billion despite global economic uncertainty, with 17 million to 18 million forecast arrivals
• Singapore’s Tourism 2040 strategy targets S$47 billion to S$50 billion in annual receipts by 2040 through differentiated products, sustainability leadership, and digital innovation