All About the Hospitality Industry in Singapore

Singapore is well known for its tourism and commerce. It is one of the well-known nations for its ease of doing business. This gives rise to lots of business and leisure travellers helping the various sectors of the hospitality industry thrive in Singapore. Let’s have a look at the hospitality industry in Singapore in this article.

Singapore is well known for its food industry and hotels. The hospitality and tourism industry in Singapore is not limited to a few countries. As is evident from the image below by sbr (Singapore Business Review), Singapore lures visitors from all around the globe. While Asian Countries like China, India, Malaysia etc are the biggest source of international tourists in Singapore, the developed nations are not far behind. This makes the hospitality industry in Singapore vibrant with enough scope to keep growing.

As per the ranking of 2019, Singapore was ranked 2nd in Ease of Business index by the World Bank. This is great news for the Singapore Hospitality and Tourism industry as it provides a positive signal for sure about the future of the hospitality industry in Singapore.

The island City-state of Singapore inhabits just over 5.6 million resident; one-third of which is the international community. That speaks of the cosmopolitan culture of this small and beautiful country.

Let’s check more interesting things about the hospitality industry in Singapore now.

Singapore’s Hotel industry- Insights and Analysis

Singapore is an international hub as far as industries or educational institutions are concerned. Tourism in Singapore has seen a growth over the years helping the hotel industry thrive and hotel revenue soar over the years.

However, the hotel rooms in the pipeline are decreasing indicating a phase of stagnation in the Singapore Hotel industry. While the travel industry of Singapore still seems to be well placed for growth the hotel industry may face the heat as suggested by the sbr Singapore hotel supply chart.

If we analyse the hotel industry statistics of Singapore in the past few years, we can see the flattening trajectory of revenues. so, this drop seems to be on expected lines.

The trend has somewhat flattened out in recent years with hotel revenues not seeing significant growth as displayed by Singapore Tourism Board reports. Adding to the woes, the tourism industry has seen a dip in revenue over the last couple of years.

The Tourism revenues of Singapore have been hovering around the Singaporean $ 23 billion mark in the past few years and dipping towards the Singaporean $ 21 Billion mark in the last couple of years (reports till 2019 as post Covid pandemic, the impact has been bigger).

The biggest loser due to this stagnation has been the Hotel industry in Singapore.

The trend, unfortunately, has been similar to the situation getting worse for Singapore’s hotel industry even after a slight increase in the number of tourists.

One of the main issues with the hotel industry in Singapore in 2016 was the Zika virus. The Zika virus outbreak had dissuaded people from travelling. Over 240 cases of the virus, which is spread by mosquitos, was seen in the city after the first case was noted.

When Singapore suffered from the SARS virus in 2003, there was a 70 per cent drop in visitors during the first three months of the scare. This sent hotel occupancy down over 40 per cent. Room rates dropped close to 20 per cent. However, the hotel industry of Singapore has recovered from the same but still fights the issue of stagnating global demand.

This is similar to what can be expected out of the Dubai hospitality industry post-2020.

The ongoing Covid 19 pandemic induced slowdown is one of the biggest setback to already stagnant hospitality and tourism sector of Singapore.

Singapore Cruise Industry- Insights

Cruise Industry in Singapore seems to be better placed than the hotel industry. The global cruise industry growth rate has been well above the rate of how the global tourism industry has grown.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board, the Cruise industry is achieving double-digit growth in Asia. Singapore due to its tropical climate, calm waters and ideal location in the Southwest sea provides for great growth opportunities to the cruise industry.

With a lot of Top Cruise Liners operating in this part of the world, the future seems to be bright for the cruise industry in Singapore. However, the COVID induced slowdown has disturbed the cruise industry as well, actually impacting it even more than almost all other industries.

Singapore Hospitality Industry- What’s in store?

The hospitality industry in Singapore has seen a less than expected growth in recent years. Even at times leading to negative overall growth due to less hotel occupancy and less number of international visitors.

However, this is set to change soon as Singapore continues its measures to ease business norms and by promoting education and medical tourism.

Don’t be surprised if you find some of the top hospitality schools in the world opening their branches in Singapore in future. While the occupancy and growth report for Singapore hospitality and tourism industry doesn’t look that great but the future looks bright. Have a look at the below chart for details on how the Singapore Hospitality industry has fared and how it is expected to perform. (The forecasts are from before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Singapore is also looking to promote more of medical tourism a well as promoting the Buddhist temples to attract more visitors to the country.

The Singapore Tourism authority seems to be putting the right foot forward to ensure that no stone is left unturned in an effort to rebound from the recent slump in growth.

The hospitality industry of Singapore is set to come up with a lot of innovative marketing techniques to lure in more tourists. The foodservice industry, travel industry (predominantly Cruise and Aviation) and the hotel industry are all set to gain through the friendly measure the government is taking to promote the Singapore Hospitality industry.

Well, we hope the beautiful island country rebounds soon from the recent slump its travel industry has experienced. We leave you with a small list of top destinations in Singapore.