Westerners sit at a cafe on Orchard Road shopping belt
© AFP/File Roslan Rahman SINGAPORE (AFP) - Visitors to the city-state totalled 739,000 in September, down 4.1 percent year-on-year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in a statement.
Travellers from Indonesia, Australia, China, India and Japan accounted for 52 percent of the arrivals.
Arrivals fell 4.1 percent in June, 3.8 percent in July and 7.7 percent in August.
The STB said the decline in arrivals reflects the global economic slowdown, while the gloomy outlook for the tourism sector is likely to continue into next year.
"With the current global economic climate, there is now a general air of uncertainty which has impacted consumer sentiments and discretionary spending. Visitor arrivals and tourism receipts are expected to fall short of the 2008 targets," it said.
Singapore has aimed to attract 10.8 million visitors and earn tourism revenues of 15.5 billion Singapore dollars (10.6 billion US) this year.
The decline came even after Singapore hosted an estimated 40,000 foreign visitors for Formula One's first ever night race on September 28.
©AFP