Singapore visitor arrivals in June are estimated to increase by 47 per cent over the last month after the country was declared safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 31. This means an increase of 88,000 visitors based on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month comparison.
However, even these encouraging signs are still a long way from a full recovery of a SARS-ravaged tourism industry and Singapore is now putting in place a $116 million long-term tourism recovery programme. Called 'Singapore Roars', the programme was launched at a giant river party in the Lion City - as Singapore is also known - to demonstrate the fun and bargain prices now applying. The programme is being launched as visitors begin to return to Singapore following WHO's dropping of Singapore from its list of SARS-affected countries. Singapore is now only 56 per cent down in arrivals on a year-on-year basis, compared to 71 per cent down before WHO took Singapore off its SARS-affected countries list. So Singapore is now putting into action additional incentives as part of the $116 million recovery plan - aimed at attracting four million visitors and generating US$2.3 billion in tourism revenue between now and the end of the year. They follow hard on the heels of a global Singapore Airlines initiative which slashed thousands of fares to Singapore by up to 75 per cent. The Incentives