Riding off the back of four years of consecutive growth, the Singapore Tourism Board is bracing itself for a rough year, and has estimated that visitor arrivals could drop by 25 to 30%.

In the midst of the Corona virus (2019-nCoV) crisis, multiple countries have released advisories dissuading travel to Singapore – the second most affected country after China. This comes after Singapore elevated its DORSCON (Disease Outbreak Response System Condition) alert to Orange, marking the outbreak as “severe” last week.

Keith Tan, chief executive, Singapore Tourism Board, speaking at a news briefing, said, “The situation this year will be comparable to the situation we faced in 2003 during SARS – and quite possibly worse… we estimate that every day, we lose an average of 18,000 to 20,000 international visitor arrivals to Singapore.”

This estimate will fluctuate depending on three variables, said Tan, namely: how long the outbreak will last and whether it has economic after-effects on the region; how long the situation in Singapore – and other countries – will last; and how long it will take for traveller demand to return.

“We are all in unchartered territory here… visitor arrivals could decline by around 25 to 30% this year.”

China makes up approximately 20% of visitor arrivals in Singapore, meaning that despite the past four years of positive growth, the island nation is preparing for a very big hit. And the decline won’t just be limited to China. Visitor arrivals from other key source markets are also expected to fall this year due to lower global travel confidence, said STB.

Read the full story here