Singapore visitor arrivals fall in August

Singapore's visitor arrivals in August fell 0.7 percent from a year ago, its smallest decline since the start of 2009, the government said Monday.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said 844,000 visitors made trips to the city-state in August compared with 850,000 a year ago.
Airfare promotions and marketing activities by the board to coincide with Malaysia's national day public holiday and Hong Kong's summer holidays boosted arrivals from the two markets, the STB said in a statement.
Arrivals from Malaysia were up 40 percent annually to 62,000 while 36,000 travellers arrived from Hong Kong, up 35 percent, the STB said.
Singapore has said it expects to receive about 9.0-9.5 million travellers this year, generating an expected 12.0-12.5 billion Singapore dollars (8.5-8.9 billion US) in revenue.
It received 10.1 million visitors last year, missing its target of 10.8 million as travel slowed in the second half due to the global slump.