Even Singapore's tourism icon, the majestic Merlion at the mouth of the Singapore River, sits quietly. Still spouting water from its mouth but longing for the days when throngs of tourists take selfies with it and fight over the best spots to take the perfect photo in its presence.
Singapore had 2.7 million visitors July year-to-date 2020, based on numbers released by the Singapore Tourism Board. This is 76 per cent lower when compared with the same figure a year ago. Singapore tourism numbers exclude those who enter Singapore through the land crossing with Malaysia where 400,000 Malaysians come into Singapore every day to work or to go to school during pre-pandemic times.
Tourism contributed SGD27.1 billion of revenue to Singapore's economy in 2019. This represents about 4 per cent of GDP. The latest figure published for tourism receipts shows that travellers spent a total of SGD4 billion in the first quarter of this year. This is down just 39 per cent compared with a year ago boosted by a"normal" January. Q2 will be much worse.
Even if the number of cases is stabilising in some parts of the world, Moody's said consumers' willingness to travel will still be impaired by health concerns, and the weakened economic conditions provide for less disposable income for personal travellers.