SINGAPORE: The Singapore Tourism Board has reported that visitor arrivals to Singapore reached 843,000 in October 2008 - a decline of 8.1% compared to October 2007.

But Trend-news.com reports that - more happily - the STB reports that visitor days were estimated at 3.3 million days, an increase of 1.7% in comparison with October 2007.

And AviationRecord.com calculates that November's figures will show a rebound - thanks to a large number of flights between Europe and the Southern Hemisphere normally scheduled to pass through Bangkok being diverted to Singapore due to the sieges of Bangkok's airports. Airlines have advised a number of passengers opted to accept diversions to Singapore rather than postpone their travels.

Trend-News.com reports that the top five visitor-generating markets for the month were Indonesia (157,000), the People's Republic of China (76,000), Australia (76,000), India (67,000) and Malaysia (54,000) with these five markets accounting for 51% of all visitor arrivals for the month.

In a statement, the STB said: "Since June 2008, Singapore has seen a decline in visitor arrivals. This reflects the impact of the current global economic slowdown on consumer sentiments and discretionary spending. Visitor arrivals and tourism receipts are expected to fall short of the 2008 targets of 10.8million and S$15.5 billion (US$10.2 billion) respectively.

"The Singapore Tourism Board will continue its efforts to increase visitor spending during the year-end festive period."