Singapore Tourism Board has unveiled initial steps as part of a wider set of measures to help tourism businesses mitigate the immediate impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus ('nCoV).

STB said that it will waive licence fees for hotels, travel agents and tourist guides, and defray enhanced cleaning costs of hotels that provided accommodation to confirmed and suspected cases of nCoV infections.

The tourism sector has already been directly affected by nCoV, due to a decline in visitor arrivals, especially from China. Chinese tourists account for around 20 per cent of Singapore’s total international visitor arrivals, with about 3.6 million visitors to Singapore in 2019.

Keith Tan, chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board said: “Over the past week, STB has been in close contact with our tourism partners to understand their difficulties and to assess the impact. We know the situation is likely to persist, and recognise we need to move quickly to support the industry and build confidence. STB will continue to identify targeted and effective ways to support the tourism industry so that they are well-positioned to grow swiftly once we start to recover.”

As part of this initial package, hotels that provided accommodation to suspected and confirmed cases of nCoV infections will get help with their environmental cleaning and disinfection costs.

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