Monitoring tourism demand in Singapore.

Abstract

Singapore aspires to be a tourism capital and aims to develop tourism as a new engine of growth. Configuring new tourism space requires constant monitoring of international demand for tourism in Singapore. This research project sets out to monitor international visitor arrivals and visitor expenditures in Singapore for the period 1978 to 1995. The econometrie results suggest that while relative exchange rates and relative prices are important factors determining non-ASEAN tourism demand in Singapore, real income remains the fundamental core for ASEAN visitor arrivals and visitor expenditures in Singapore. Flows of ASEAN visitors are expected to continue given the strong regional economies at least in the near future. Non-ASEAN visitors could only be attracted if relative exchange rates are kept steady and costs of tourism services in Singapore are kept competitive. Singapore is experiencing fluctuation in visitor arrivals in recent years. The recipe for success call for greater globalisation effort to plan strategie thrust and reformulating new tourism products. Attracting visitors, both business and leisure, thróugh tourism demand would serve to form part of the overall strategy to further the Republic's external economy. Human resource constraint and quality of services remain the biggest limitation to tourism growth in Singapore. Longer term policies to enhance labour productivity and labour supply in the services industry would be paramount. To develop Singapore into a globally-linked tourism resource centre, information technology usage must be promoted in order to build a superior information network.