Tourists arrivals in Singapore hits new high as Hong Kong misses the bus

It’s almost like a sequel to “Crazy Rich Asians.”

A year after the movie -- set in Singapore -- helped drive a record number of visitors to the city-state, the tourists are back again in full force, pushing arrivals to a new high in the third quarter.

About 5 million travelers came to the island between July and September, led by visitors from Greater China, which jumped 22%, according to data from Singapore Tourism Board’s website. The previous quarterly record was 4.83 million set in the same period a year earlier.

The surge in tourists also coincided with the reopening of the city’s grand dame, Raffles Hotel. The 132-year-old iconic hotel -- the birth place of the “Singapore Sling” -- opened after an extensive renovation.

Singapore, which competes with Hong Kong for conferences, is also benefitting from the North Asian city’s weekly pro-democracy protests that started in June. As the demonstrations turned increasingly violent, some conferences, such as the Global Wellness Summit, moved their events to the island republic.

The unrest in Hong Kong has prompted businesses to relocate events and major meetings to locations in Singapore as well as neighboring countries such as Thailand, according to hotel-industry billionaire William Heinecke.

The outlook for 2020 looks bright too with a robust line up of events such as Singapore Airshow, Food & Hotel Asia conference and Gamescom Asia, according to a report published by DBS Bank Ltd. in October.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.