KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Genting Group’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is set to benefit from the return of Chinese travellers, according to industry magazine Inside Asian Gaming (IAG).

In a report on Thursday (Aug 17), IAG cited analysts as saying that the influx of Chinese tourists bodes well for Singapore’s two integrated resorts — Marina Bay Sands and RWS — after each booked strong financial results for the June 2023 quarter.

The magazine reported that analysts have suggested that both properties still have significant room for improvement throughout the remainder of the year given the absence of large numbers of Chinese visitors through the first half of 2023.

IAG said Singapore welcomed a post-pandemic record of 1.42 million visitor arrivals in July, representing a 25.7% jump over the 1.13 million arrivals in the previous month, thanks to a significant jump in Chinese visitation.

According to figures from the Singapore Tourism Board, there were 231,330 visitor arrivals from China in July, a 104% increase over the 113,290 Chinese arrivals in June.

Chinese arrivals also stayed longer than other nationalities at an average of 4.78 days compared with 3.82 days for others.

The magazine added that the July total of 1.42 million arrivals was more than double the 726,739 visitors who arrived during July 2022 and takes the total number of visitor arrivals through the first seven months of 2023 to 7.7 million.

It said while China reclaimed the top spot as Singapore’s top source tourism market in July, it still sits second for the year with 655,520 arrivals — placing it behind Indonesia which has contributed 1.35 million arrivals since Jan 1. India (628,340), Malaysia (625,980) and Australia (611,350) round out the top five in 2023 so far.