Singapore Tourism Spending Reaches Record S$23.9 Billion as Experiences Drive Growth

Visitor Spending Rises Faster Than Arrivals

Singapore recorded S$23.9 billion (US$18.8 billion) in tourism receipts during the first nine months of 2025, the highest total for that period, as visitors spent more on food, entertainment and experiences. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced on February 3 that spending rose 6.5 per cent from the same period in 2024.

The result puts Singapore on course to exceed its full year forecast of S$29 billion to S$30.5 billion, following record receipts of S$29.8 billion in 2024. As of February 6, 2026, the spending figure covered January through September, while the visitor arrival count covered all of 2025.

International arrivals reached 16.9 million in 2025, an increase of 2.3 per cent. Visitor numbers remained below the 19.1 million recorded in 2019, before the pandemic, while spending per visitor was 24.4 per cent higher than in 2019.

Singapore's strategy places greater weight on the value of each visit than on simply attracting more people. Visitors seeking distinctive dining, concerts, wildlife encounters and business events are helping spending grow faster than arrivals, even amid global economic uncertainty.

Tourism receipts measure money spent by visitors. Arrival numbers count visits. The two measures together explain the central change in Singapore's tourism economy: fewer arrivals than before the pandemic can still support stronger spending when each visitor spends more.

Melissa Ow, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, said the results supported the country's longer term tourism ambitions and its focus on distinctive experiences.

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.

Dining and Entertainment Take a Larger Share

Food and beverage spending rose 15 per cent from a year earlier, matching the growth in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming. Chinese visitors illustrated the shift particularly strongly: their food and beverage spending increased 19 per cent, leading spending growth within that market.

The comparison with 2019 shows how far travel budgets have changed. Tourism receipts from food and beverages were 71 per cent higher, while spending on shopping fell 7.8 per cent and accommodation receipts declined 7 per cent.

E-commerce has reduced the appeal of travelling mainly to shop. Experiences that require someone to be physically present, such as eating at a Michelin-starred hawker stall, watching a concert or joining an adventure involving wildlife, now take a larger share of visitor budgets.

Singapore's UNESCO-recognized hawker culture and expanding culinary scene support that demand. The shift also helps explain why higher visitor spending can coexist with lower receipts in traditional categories such as shopping and accommodation: tourists are changing where their money goes.

China Leads Spending as Markets Move at Different Speeds

Mainland China, Indonesia and Australia were Singapore's three largest tourism markets by spending in the first nine months of 2025. They contributed S$3.68 billion, S$2.09 billion and S$1.54 billion respectively, a combined S$7.31 billion.

Those market figures exclude sightseeing, entertainment and gaming. Spending associated with integrated resort activities therefore adds to the amounts captured in those totals.

Australia supplied a record 1.3 million visitors across 2025, up 8 per cent from the previous year. India recorded 1.2 million arrivals and S$1.17 billion in tourism receipts, with receipts rising 5 per cent from 2024.

India's performance followed several targeted initiatives. UPI payment integration extended across 130,000 merchants, while partnerships with IndiGo and Singapore Airlines supported travel demand. The "Just Between Us Friends" campaign marked 60 years of diplomatic relations.

The "FamJam in Singapore" collaboration with Nickelodeon also targeted families. Its integration of family content won a gold award at the GEMA Asia Awards 2025.

Vietnamese arrivals fell to 344,000 from 393,000 in 2024, reflecting greater sensitivity to travel costs. Arrivals from the Philippines declined to 726,000 from 779,000 as demand returned to more usual levels after a boost from major entertainment events in the previous year.

Other markets expanded. Arrivals from Japan grew 10 per cent, Malaysia 8 per cent, Germany 5 per cent and the United States 4 per cent. The mix of nearby, medium distance and distant markets helps Singapore spread its exposure to economic weakness in any one region.

Concerts, Art and Formula 1 Draw Visitors

The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix recorded total attendance of 300,641 across its three days, an increase of 11.7 per cent from 2024. Its scale made it an important part of a calendar designed to attract visitors willing to spend on entertainment, accommodation and dining.

Lady Gaga's exclusive Singapore tour stop, together with concerts by Blackpink and Seventeen, drew thousands of international fans. These visitors were willing to pay premium prices for hotel stays and dining packages around the performances.

ART SG, Southeast Asia's leading international art fair, brought together 105 galleries from 30 countries. More than 41,000 visitors attended during Singapore Art Week.

Music, sport and art serve different audiences, giving Singapore several routes to attract visitors. Their spending extends beyond admission: a concert or race can anchor a trip that also includes meals, hotel nights and visits to attractions.

Wildlife Parks and Hotels Expand the Experience

Rainforest Wild Asia opened as Singapore's fifth wildlife park and Asia's first zoological experience centred on adventure. Its attractions include the Wild Apex Adventure climbing facility and the AIA Vitality Bounce net.

Resorts World Sentosa added the Singapore Oceanarium. At Mandai Wildlife Reserve, Curiosity Cove opened as Singapore's largest indoor playscape, with more than 30 experiential features.

Jurassic World: The Experience debuted at the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay. The Chinatown Heritage Centre reopened with immersive exhibits and tours led by characters, adding a cultural option alongside the new wildlife and entertainment attractions.

Singapore also added 644 hotel rooms. Openings included Raffles Sentosa Singapore, the country's first luxury property consisting entirely of villas and its second Raffles hotel, as well as Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, The Laurus at Resorts World Sentosa and Mama Shelter.

Average hotel occupancy reached 81.9 per cent, compared with 81.4 per cent in 2024. The sector maintained stable performance while adding accommodation and supporting the focus on higher spending visitors.

Business Events Bring Greater Spending per Visitor

Meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, known collectively as MICE, are central to Singapore's tourism strategy because their participants typically spend twice as much as leisure visitors. Incentive trips are travel experiences organized as rewards, while conventions and exhibitions bring people together for professional meetings and trade.

Grace Fu, minister for sustainability and the environment and minister-in-charge of trade relations, explained the value of this segment at the Tourism Industry Conference 2025.

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

The Sun Pharma Star Club Awards brought 6,100 participants from India in 2025, the largest meeting and incentive movement from that market. Singapore also hosted ITMA Asia + CITME and the inaugural Asian editions of HealthTechX Asia 2025 and LSI Asia 2025.

The Milken Institute Asia Summit committed to making Singapore its base from 2026 to 2028. Singapore ranked third worldwide and first in Asia-Pacific in the International Congress and Convention Association rankings, supporting its position as a major destination for business events.

STB aims to triple tourism receipts generated by MICE by 2040 and raise the sector's share of total tourism revenue from 4 per cent to approximately 10 per cent. That target makes business events a major part of the effort to increase spending without relying entirely on more arrivals.

Plans include studying the feasibility of a dedicated MICE Hub downtown and launching the Business Events Inspired pilot programme with SACEOS to develop new international events. Support through the Kickstart Fund for home-grown events is being extended from three years to four.

The Business Event in Singapore (BEiS) Build Foundation incentive scheme also helps cover business development costs incurred while pursuing potential MICE events. Together, these measures address both the creation of events and the work needed to bring them to Singapore.

Cruises and Major Construction Add Capacity

Singapore received 375 cruise ship calls in 2025, up 10 per cent from the previous year. Passenger throughput exceeded two million, an increase of 9 per cent, supporting its position as Southeast Asia's leading cruise hub.

New ships using Singapore as their homeport included Royal Caribbean International's Ovation of the Seas and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's Luminara. A homeport is the base where a cruise begins and ends, creating demand for port services and opportunities for passengers to stay in the city.

The Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore completed a S$40 million expansion, increasing passenger capacity from 6,800 to 11,700. Disney Cruise Line is also set to establish its first Asian homeport in Singapore with the Disney Adventure.

Marina Bay Sands broke ground on a US$8 billion luxury expansion comprising 570 suites, 200,000 square feet of premium meeting space and an arena with 15,000 seats. The combination adds capacity for accommodation, business events and entertainment.

Other developments extend beyond 2026. The Porsche Experience Centre Singapore broke ground in 2025 for an opening in 2027. Therme Group won the tender to develop a S$1 billion wellness attraction at Marina South by 2030, with an expected two million visitors a year.

The tourism expansion spans several years:

• 2025: New attractions and hotels opened, while the Porsche Experience Centre and Marina Bay Sands expansion broke ground.
• January 2026: The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence held its annual conference in Singapore.
• February 3, 2026: STB announced record tourism receipts for the first nine months of 2025.
• 2026 to 2028: The Milken Institute Asia Summit committed to a Singapore base.
• 2027: The Porsche Experience Centre Singapore is scheduled to open.
• By 2030: Therme Group's Marina South wellness attraction is planned for development.
• 2040: Singapore aims for annual tourism receipts of S$47 billion to S$50 billion.

Digital Campaigns Target Younger Travellers

Travellers aged 25 to 44 now account for more than 40 per cent of international arrivals. STB's "We don't wait for fun" campaign targets Gen Z and millennials through fast digital storytelling on social platforms and partnerships with Spotify, Grab and Skyscanner.

Branded entertainment partnerships have also placed Singapore in music videos, including Coldplay's "Man In The Moon," BTS Jin's "Don't Say You Love Me" and BLACKPINK Jisoo's "Your Love." The collaborations created opportunities for more than 100 local talents.

Technology is being used within tourism businesses as well as in promotion. Pilots supported by the Singapore Tourism Accelerator included solutions using artificial intelligence that reduced the time needed to search for hotel sales leads by 80 per cent.

Skills programmes supported those changes. The Tourism Leadership Excellence and Advancement Programme (T-LEAP) trained 75 participants from 35 companies in leadership development. A partnership with NTUC LearningHub delivered more than 1,200 training places covering sustainability, technology and service excellence.

Sustainability Becomes Part of the Growth Plan

More than 73 per cent of Singapore's hotel room stock achieved sustainability certification, surpassing the target of 60 per cent set for December 2025. Certification gives the sector a way to track progress as it seeks growth that can be sustained over time.

All six purpose-built MICE venues obtained certification, as did more than 80 per cent of SACEOS members. The progress links the business events strategy with Singapore's wider tourism sustainability goals.

Singapore ranked first in Asia Pacific and seventh globally in the 2024 Global Destination Sustainability Index, moving up ten places from the preceding year.

The Tourism 2040 roadmap targets S$47 billion to S$50 billion in annual receipts over the next 15 years. Its focus is sustainable growth and visitors who spend more, rather than arrival numbers alone. Higher spending per visitor, stable hotel performance and wider certification are all part of that approach.

A Cautious Forecast Meets a Busy 2026 Calendar

STB forecasts 17 million to 18 million international arrivals in 2026 and tourism receipts of S$31 billion to S$32.5 billion. The projections reflect caution about global economic uncertainty and political instability affecting travel.

DBS Bank senior economist Chua Han Teng said Singapore's strategy of attracting visitors who spend more was paying off. He viewed the conservative arrival forecast as realism rather than weakness.

The 2026 calendar nevertheless contains major attractions. BTS will perform four nights in Singapore, its longest Asian stop outside South Korea and Japan. Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA will return for its only Southeast Asian engagement, while Formula 1 will introduce a sprint race format.

The Herbalife Extravaganza is expected to bring 25,000 participants, making it the largest meeting and incentive event in Singapore's history. In January 2026, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence held its annual conference in Singapore, the first time the event had taken place outside the United States in its 40-year history.

Dr Samer El Hajjar, senior lecturer of marketing at NUS Business School, described Singapore as entering a more mature phase of recovery, refining what tourism should deliver for the economy, jobs and visitor experience.

The figures show the central task for 2026: maintain spending momentum while building on a broad mix of visitor markets and experiences. Dining, entertainment, business events and new attractions are doing much of that work, supported by investment in hotels, cruises, skills and technology.

The Bottom Line

• Tourism receipts reached a record S$23.9 billion in the first nine months of 2025, up 6.5 per cent, putting Singapore on course to exceed its full year forecast.
• Arrivals totalled 16.9 million in 2025, up 2.3 per cent, while spending per visitor was 24.4 per cent above 2019 levels.
• Food and beverage spending and sightseeing, entertainment and gaming spending each grew 15 per cent from a year earlier.
• China, Indonesia and Australia contributed S$7.31 billion in receipts, excluding sightseeing, entertainment and gaming.
• Business event visitors typically spend twice as much as leisure visitors. Singapore aims to triple MICE tourism receipts by 2040.
• STB forecasts 17 million to 18 million arrivals and S$31 billion to S$32.5 billion in tourism receipts for 2026.
• Tourism 2040 targets annual receipts of S$47 billion to S$50 billion through distinctive experiences, higher spending visitors and sustainable growth.