A surge in the number of Indian tourists propelled visitor arrivals last month to a new record, the 63rd consecutive month a mark has been set.

A total of 828,000 tourists visited Singapore last month, up 0.8 per cent from the same period last year. Between January and last month, more than 4.25 million travellers visited Singapore.

With the peak tourism months of July, October and December still to come, that puts Singapore well on track to meet the target of 10.8 million visitor arrivals this year.

Of the figures released yesterday by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), one stood out: 103,000 visitors last month were from India - a 60 per cent jump over April's 63,000. That puts Indians in the No. 2 spot on the list of arrivals, the highest they have placed on the chart.

Indonesians topped the list with 136,000 visitors; those from China ranked third with 86,000.

Visitor arrivals from India have been rising since 2005, culminating in a record 749,000 last year. The figure for the first five months of this year is already 331,000.

Mr Balaji Narayanan, director of Millenium-Tours, which mostly handles tour groups from India, attributed the growth to increasing affluence among the population.

"Singapore's the most preferred destination because it has a lot to offer - cleanliness, availability of Indian food and culture, lots of sightseeing options, plenty of shopping," he said.

Recognising this, the STB has been wooing Indians in the past few years. It hopes to attract a million of them here by next year.

Tour agencies here have also capitalised on the trend, linking up with more counterparts in India and offering more competitive prices for travel into Singapore, said Mr Robert Khoo, chief executive officer of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore.

Meanwhile, the glowing overall arrival figures have left businesses licking their lips at the prospects for the second half of the year.

With draws such as the events around National Day, the Formula One race in September and the traditional December peak period still to come, the tourism industry seems set for another record year.

The general growth in visitor arrivals is in line with healthy numbers across Asia, and allays earlier fears of a downturn in tourism as a result of the impact of rising fuel costs on the airline industry.

Apart from arrival figures, the STB also said yesterday that average room rates dipped slightly to $249 last month from $254 in April due to fluctuating demand.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on June 28, 2008.