Singapore’s retail sales, excluding motor vehicles, gained for a 12th month in October as an influx of tourists and rising wages spurred sales at department stores.

The index measuring purchases excluding automobiles climbed 5.3% from a year earlier, after gaining a revised 5.2% in September, the Statistics Department said in a statement today. Including vehicles, which are sold subject to government caps, total retail sales fell 2.8%, worse than the median forecast for a 1% decline in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists.

Singapore’s services industry is still expanding even after weakening overseas demand for manufactured goods caused the economy to contract last quarter. The city’s two casino resorts run by Genting Singapore Plc and Las Vegas Sands Corp. have attracted millions to its gaming centers, helping boost spending at malls and restaurants.

“Excluding car sales, the retail outlook continues to brighten on positive domestic labor market outlook and record inflow of tourists,” Alvin Liew, a Singapore-based economist at Standard Chartered Plc, said before the report.