Singapore visitor arrivals rose 26.7% in June from a year ago to 950,000, the best figure since December’s record number, as the city-state’s two new casinos attracted more tourists from the region. 

This was the seventh consecutive month of record visitor arrivals in the island state. A total of 946,000 visitors arrived in May and 939,000 in April, said the Singapore Tourism Board. 

 

A record number of 972,000 visitors came to Singapore in December 2009. 

 

The largest number of visitors came from Indonesia, Malaysia and India, while arrivals from China rose 65.8% from a year ago. 

 

Singapore hopes to double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015, and is counting on mega casino-resorts opened this year by Malaysia’s Genting Bhd (GENT.KL) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N) to help fuel tourism and economic growth. 

 

Las Vegas Sands, the world’s most valuable casino firm, said last month its US$5.5 billion Singapore casino has exceeded forecasts since opening in April and could draw up to 150,000 visitors a day once operations are in full swing.

 

Singapore hotels reported an average occupancy rate of 88% in June, up 12.3 percentage points from a year earlier, pushing the average room rate up by 22.7% from a year ago to $219 a night, according to the tourism board.