Several destinations also see an increase of visitors in October, including Macau, Korea and Taiwan and as the holiday season is approaching, the number of visitors is likely to grow in December.

Boosted by strong inbound travelers, Japan recorded 2.5 million visitors in October, surpassing the comparable figures in 2019.

Malaysia

It is recorded that over 9.1 million tourist arrivals to Malaysia in the first year of 2023, and the government is confident that it will reach 18 million visitors this year.

The government postponed Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) to 2026 from 2025 and aims to welcome 23.5 million international tourists with an estimated domestic expenditure of RM97.6 billion. The country plans to further develop Muslim-friendly tourism by funding the promotion of Islamic tourism and other tourism activities.

To fuel the tourism recovery, Malaysia announced the visa-free initiatives to travellers from China, India, and several Middle Eastern countries in December. Malaysia welcomed more than 1 million tourists from China and 472,000 tourists from India between January and September, and both showed an increase of the figures in 2019, according to the government officials.

The temporary visa waiver is expected to reach 25 million foreign tourists in the target markets. At the same time, Malaysia is also on the list of approved countries for visa-free entry announced by China.

Singapore

Singapore recorded 1.1 million visitors in October, approximately 74% of the figure in 2019. The nation expected to reach its annual goal of between 12 million and 14 million visitors this year, with over 11.3 million visitors recorded between January and October. The top three feeder markets are Indonesia (16%), China (11%) and India (8%) during this period.

Genting Singapore announced the investment of Resort World Sentosa (RWS) would increase from S$4.5 billion to S$6.8 billion in November. The updated investment called “RWS 2.0” includes the expansion of USS featuring a new Minion Land and Super Nintendo World, and S.E.A. Aquarium which will become the Singapore Oceanrium. An additional 700 hotel rooms which is approved by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will be added to the over 1,600 existing keys at RWS.

On the other hand, Marina Bay Sands also expected to the expasion project would exceed its initial estimated amount of S$4.5 billion due to inflation and higher costs.

Taiwan

Taiwan received more than 621,000 tourists in October 2023, reaching 65% of the figure in 2019. Japan, Hong Kong SAR, and Korea are the feeder markets at the same time, while mainland China was left behind by other countries in Southeast Asia. Due to the cross-strait tensions, it is unknown when the group travel to Taiwan would resume.

Outbound travelers from Taiwan, on the other hand, reached 1.2 million in October, and the top destinations include Japan, mainland China, and Korea. Due to the weak yen, one third of outbound visitors travelled to Japan.

AP Hospitality Advisors serves owners, investors, developers, operators and lenders of hospitality assets across Asia-Pacific. The team blends expertise in operations, real estate and finance to support any critical step in the asset life-cycle.

www.ap-ha.com