VISITOR arrivals reached a record 908,000 in March, up 5.7 per cent from the same month last year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said yesterday.

Indonesia (155,000) accounted for the highest number of visitors, while China (98,000), Australia (62,000), the United Kingdom (61,000) and India (58,000) were also among Singapore's top five visitor-generating markets. These countries accounted for almost half of total visitor arrivals for the month.

Arrivals from Vietnam grew 27 per cent year on year to 18,000, the highest rate of increase among Singapore's top 15 visitor markets. Arrivals from China and Hong Kong (28,000) also registered high growth of 24 and 23 per cent respectively. More than 61,000 UK visitors travelled to Singapore last month - an all-time record for a single month.

Gazetted hotel room revenue was an estimated $189 million, up 16.8 per cent year on year, while the average room rate climbed 23.8 per cent to $238.

The average occupancy rate, however, dipped four percentage points to 87 per cent from last year's 91 per cent. The rate has been falling year on year since November 2007.