Singapore’s visitor arrivals surged in April as a recovery in the global economy encouraged travel and the island’s two casino-resorts attracted tourists to their roulette tables, shops and hotels.

Visitor arrivals rose 20.4% to 938,000 last month from a year earlier, the Singapore Tourism Board said in a statement today. The arrivals were the highest ever for April, and followed four months of record gains.

 

“This can be attributed to the continued improvement of the economic climate, leading to growth in visitor arrivals to Singapore,” according to the statement.

 

Singapore aims to lure 17 million visitors and reach annual tourism revenue of $30 billion by 2015, helped by casino resorts run by Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Genting Singapore Plc. The island may get as many as 12.5 million visitors this year and tourism receipts may reach as much as $18.5 billion, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran said May 18.

 

Marina Bay Sands, built beside Singapore’s financial district, opened parts of its US$5.5 billion ($7.8 billion) resort on April 27, two months after the US$4.7 billion casino development on Singapore’s Sentosa Island. Resorts World, which is run by Genting, includes a Universal Studios theme park.

 

Arrivals from Thailand surged 57.5% while those from Malaysia rose 50.8% in April, making the two countries among the biggest visitor-generating markets for the city state, the tourism board said. Travelers from Indonesia, India and China rounded off the top five visiting nationalities.

 

Hotels increased prices as occupancy rates rose, according to the board’s figures. The average hotel room occupancy rate was 85% in April, 15%age points more than a year earlier, while hotel room revenue rose 36.5% to $158 million in the same period.