Disha Shah Ghosh - Mumbai The Singapore Tourism Board welcomed 977,500 visitors from India till November this year, and is set to cross the 1-million visitor-arrival mark for 2023, post Covid. This development comes at a crucial time when India has elevated its ranking to the number 4 source market for STB. Pre-Covid, during 2019, Singapore recorded 1.41 million visitors from India.
Talking to TravelBiz Monitor in Mumbai yesterday, his last interaction with the press before handing over the baton to his successor Markus Tan, GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, said, “India continues to remain a key source market for Singapore, since it is a growing market for outbound travel. What has changed is the Indian traveller from a decade ago who was still new to an international holiday. Today, the Indian traveller is a far more discerning and seasoned visitor, confident and keen to engage in newer experiences, exploring localities beyond the main cities and to indulge in newer cuisines.”
He went on to say, “Air capacity has been fully restored, and currently we are connected to 17 cities in India. Singapore counts India as a key meetings and incentives market, and we have seen a good number of Indians coming in this year from these segments.”
Commenting on this new role, Tan, a former Regional Director for China, said “India is a complex market with varied consumers and preferences, with behaviours, trends and distribution being different in each part of the country. ” Currently, he said that every country is looking at India due to its growth potential. “Today India is the number one growth market especially in APAC, and every country is looking at India to grab a share of the outbound pie. ”
Besides visitor arrivals, the key performance indicators for Singapore in India are per consumer expenditure that is higher than the global average for Singapore, and increasing traffic from the secondary cities beyond the main metros. Besides family traveller, Singapore has been witnessing a growth from young travellers as well.
