Chinese mainland remains top source of visitor arrivals to Singapore

SINGAPORE, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland remained Singapore's largest source of visitors this year, with arrivals reaching 2.93 million in the first 11 months, according to data released on Monday by the Singapore Tourism Board.

In November, arrivals from the Chinese mainland rose 16.5 percent year-on-year to 203,530. Local media attributed the increase to China's rollout of an autumn school holiday, piloted in cities across provinces including Zhejiang, Sichuan and Guangdong. The additional three days off, when combined with weekends, extended breaks to five days.

Indonesia was the second-largest source market during the January-November period, contributing 2.2 million visitors, followed by Malaysia with 1.16 million, the tourism board said.

Singapore received 1.29 million visitor arrivals in November, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier. Total arrivals for the first 11 months of the year reached 15.55 million, a 2.7 percent increase compared with the same period last year.