SINGAPORE – The Republic collected $7.21 billion in tourism receipts in the second quarter of 2026, marking a 6.2% decline year on year, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures released on Oct 15 showed.
This mirrored a 6.6% slide in visitor arrivals to 3.76 million in the quarter, and comes amid global turbulence. On a sequential basis, visitor spending dropped 15.4%, from $8.51 billion.
Still, taken together, the city state’s performance for the first half of 2026 was largely stable.
The April-to-June data brings tourism receipts for the first half of 2026 to $15.71 billion, down by a marginal 0.3% from the year-ago period. This came alongside a 1.7% decrease in visitor arrivals to 8.19 million.
“The performance comes amid a challenging global environment,” said STB, citing the “escalation of the Middle East conflict in Q1 contributing to higher fuel costs, reduced air capacity and economic uncertainties that have affected international travel, particularly from European source markets”.
It added: “Despite these headwinds, tourism spending remained relatively resilient.”
Most components up year on year
Most components recorded decreases in tourist spending in the second quarter, but the first-half 2026 performance was slightly more encouraging.
For the second quarter, the sightseeing, entertainment and gaming component (SEG) reported the largest decline, with tourism receipts sliding 15.4% to $1.58 billion.
Notably, the FIFA World Cup in June and July reportedly directed wagering budgets away from gaming and towards sports betting instead.
Food and beverage (minus 9.8%) reflected the next-largest fall, followed by accommodation (minus 8.4%) and shopping (minus 1.5%).
On a quarterly basis, all components brought in less revenue in the second quarter than in the three months prior.
But for the six months from January to June, three of the five components published by STB had year-on-year increases: shopping (2.9%), SEG (2.3%) and other components (1.6%).
STB pointed out that six of Singapore’s top 10 tourism receipt-generating markets recorded year-on-year increases in shopping spend.
The agency added that growth in shopping spend was supported by new luxury flagship openings since the end of 2025. These include Van Cleef & Arpels’ first duplex in South-east Asia at Ion Orchard and brand activations such as the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2026.
“Complementing this, Singapore’s local retail scene also offers differentiated shopping experiences, such as Dors at Design Orchard, featuring a wide range of home-grown brands, and lifestyle cluster New Bahru, which has expanded its retail mix within the Factory Block,” STB added.
F&B tourist takings fell 6.2% year on year in the first half of 2026; accommodation takings were down 5.3%.
China drives receipts
On a yearly basis, China continued to be the top contributor for tourist spending in the second quarter. Tourists from China brought in $965.5 million, 1.9% lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
Indonesia was the second-largest contributor, at $589.7 million, though takings fell 15.2% from a year earlier.
This was followed by Australia at $526.7 million (5.6%), India at $471.6 million (minus 5.6%) and the US at $427.2 million (16.1%).
By international visitor arrival volumes, the top countries of origin in the second quarter were China (619,624), Indonesia (518,893), India (357,152), Malaysia (305,752) and Australia (294,086).
For the first half of 2026, the top three source countries by tourism receipts remained China, Indonesia and Australia, in that order. However, tourist spending by US tourists ($889.4 million) was higher than spending by Indian visitors ($839.6 million).
“The top three markets remained unchanged from H1 2025, with four of the top five markets recording year-on-year growth in tourism spending,” STB pointed out.
Geographically, tourists mostly came from China (1.5 million), Indonesia (1.1 million), Malaysia (644,661), Australia (605,972) and India (604,534). The US was the sixth-largest source of visitor arrivals in the first half of 2026. THE BUSINESS TIMES