Visitor arrivals to Singapore in October rose 15.8% from a year earlier to 978,000, the highest number of arrivals recorded for the month of October ever, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Wednesday.

But the number was still below July’s figure when a record 1.1 million people visited the city-state.

Indonesia contributed the largest number of visitors with 179,000 in October, while South Korea was the fastest-growing market for Singapore’s tourism industry, with visitor arrivals jumping 80.4% from a year ago.

STB’s figures do not include the thousands who cross over from Malaysia daily by land.

STB said average occupancy rate at Singapore hotels in October was 86%, while the average room rate rose in October by 16.2% from a year ago to $214.

STB said it was optimistic the country’s tourism receipts would reach its target range of $17.5 to $18.5 billion in 2010 compared to $12.4 billion in 2009.