Singapore received 1.44 million visitors in January, a rise of 54.2 percent year-on-year and up 16.1 percent sequentially, according to the latest data from Singapore Tourism Board.

Of the January visitor tally, 1.07 million were overnight visitors, a number that increased by 43.6 percent year-on-year and 26 percent sequentially. The average length of stay however went down 20.1 percent year-on-year, to 3.45 days.

Indonesia remained the top source market for Singapore’s visitors, showed the monthly data. Indonesia supplied 268,970 visitors in January, with mainland China second, at 211,190 visitors to the city-state.

Of all source markets, mainland China was in January the one with the biggest year-on-year growth, at 644.2 percent.

Australia was in January the city-state’s third largest source market, supplying 124,140 visitors.

Of the top-three source markets, those visitors from mainland China stayed the longest in Singapore, with an average of 3.73 days in January.

Singapore is home to a casino resort duopoly: Resorts World Sentosa, operated by a unit of Genting Singapore Ltd; and Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

The city-state received just above 13.61 million visitors for full-year 2023, up 115.8 percent year-on-year, according to the tourism authority’s data.

Singapore’s international visitor arrivals could reach around “15 million to 16 million” in 2024, bringing in approximately “SGD26.0 billion [US$19.4 billion] to SGD27.5 billion” in tourism receipts, according to a Singapore Tourism Board release on February 1, mentioning the outlook for the current calendar year.

The tourism body explained its forecast: “STB expects the tourism sector’s recovery to continue in 2024, driven by improved global flight connectivity and capacity as well as the implementation of the mutual 30-day visa-free travel between China and Singapore.”

It added: “In 2024, international flight capacity is expected to continue to increase, with capacity at or approaching pre-[Covid-19]pandemic levels for the majority of our key source markets.”