Hotel Room Prices Reach New Highs With Record Arrivals In January

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 26 February 2008

Singapore greeted 883,000 visitors in January 2008 setting a new record for visitor arrivals in that month.

Not only did visitor arrival figures rise 6.9 per cent higher in January 2008 compared to January 2007, but visitors also stayed longer this time round.

The top three markets were Indonesia, China and Australia. Visitor arrivals from China rose 42 per cent than in January 2007.

Some 3.5 million visitor days were recorded - working out to an average of 3.96 days per visitor.

Along with the booming tourism sector, hotel room prices have also reached record highs.

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The average room rate in January 2008 reached an all-time record of S$237 and it is estimated that Singapore gazetted hotels generated S$175 million in room revenue for that month.

That's an increase of nearly 27.9 per cent compared to January 2007.

The Singapore Tourism Board said the sharp rise in room rates is a reflection of market forces.

And while they are reaching an all-time high in Singapore, the rises are just keeping up with market rates in the region.

The average occupancy rate for hotels was 84 per cent in January 2008, down 2.3 per cent over January 2007.

Meanwhile, the average occupancy rate for the whole of 2007 was 87 per cent, the highest since 1995. -CNA/vm