Airlines from India are landing in Singapore with full flights
Singapore remains bullish on increasing tourist traffic from the country especially as the affluent growing middle-class takes to travelling.
Most of the airline flights from India arriving in the city state are packed, says Poh Chi Chuan, Executive Director of Exhibitions & Conferences at the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
Singapore is just not looking at the tourist traffic out of India but also business travellers given that both countries have growing trade and prospering Indian economy offers a wide range of opportunities to investors based in the Asian financial hub as the city state is dubbed, he said.
“We also see a lot of opportunities coming up in India in sectors such as pharma, biomed, IT and Fintech. These are very strong industries for Singapore to increase bilateral trade,” said Poh, adding that Singapore has large scale exhibitions and conferences catering to these sectors covering advanced technologies.
At the peak, Singapore received 1.4 million tourists from India in 2019 and then recovered back to 1.1 million Indian visitors in 2023 post-pandemic, following the slowdown revival of industries and economic activities due to COVID-influenced lockdown in 2020-22.
Poh also shared about the infrastructure being built for tourists and business travellers on the island state, such as 9,000 new hotel rooms that were being added to about 72,000 existing rooms.
“We need visitors to come and fill these rooms,” he underlined at a press conference announcing the inaugural APAC edition of the world-renowned NRF Retail Big Show to be held in Singapore on June 11-13, 2024, six months after NRF 2024: Retail’s Big Show in New York City..
On tourist attractions, he highlighted the recently opened 30,000 sqm Sensoryscape, a significant step in Sentosa Resort Island’s evolution as a leading global leisure and lifestyle destination. Fiinews.com
