Singapore (VNA) – The Singapore Tourism Board(STB), on February 14, reported a record number of 16.4 million foreignvisitors to the island nation last year, up 7.7 percent from 2015.

Tourism revenue followed the same path, growing 13.9 percentto reach 24.8 billion SGD (17.7 billion USD).

Singapore’s major tourist markets, including China, Indiaand Indonesia, saw respective annual growth of 36, eight and six percent. Bycontrast, the volume of arrivals from Hong Kong and Malaysia to Singapore fellby 12 and 2 percent year on year, respectively.

STB chief executive Lionel Yeo said despite challenges suchas weaker economic performance in some of the country’s top source markets and theZika virus outbreak in August, tourism promotion measures taken in the past twoyears have contributed to the impressive results.

The measures included a 20-million-USD global campaign toattract visitors in 2015-2016, as well as restructuring to improve the capacityof hotels and travel agents.

The STB also supported a total of 52 technology-relatedprojects through funds to help stakeholders of the non-smoke industry improvetheir operations. 

In 2017, Singapore aims at attracting between 16.4 and 16.7million international tourists and earning around 25.8 billion SGD (18.2billion USD).-VNA