A total of 11,809 tourists from Qatar visited Singapore in 2013, a 27% increase in the number of visitors compared with the figures in 2012.

Mohamed Hafez Marican, area director at Singapore Tourism Board Middle East and Africa, said yesterday that this figure remains to be a small portion of the 15.5mn total visitors last year – a 7.2%
increase from 2012.

“You also have to consider the population of Qatar which also relatively small but rapidly
growing,” he said.

The tourism official noted that Qatar is the third largest tourism market for Singapore next to Saudi while the UAE tops the list with nearly 70,000 visitors coming from this GCC country.

Qataris and others are exempted from getting a visa but some residents in Qatar need to apply at the embassy if they want to visit Singapore.

According to Marican, the increasing number of tourists from Qatar can be attributed to its growing population as well as the twice daily flights of Qatar
Airways to Singapore.

He noted that 70% of Qatar visitors are leisure travellers since the Southeast Asian country has a lot of family-friendly attractions such as Universal Studios and theme parks. It also has a world-class healthcare system and hospitals which makes it popular as a medical tourism destination to many Qataris and Middle Eastern visitors. Besides, many of the restaurants and fast food chains serve halal food, he added.

With 15% of its population being Muslims, it is home to 70 mosques and the biggest number of visitors come from two Muslim countries - Malaysia and Indonesia. Its tourism revenues also reached $18.7bn last year, which is 1.6% up from 2012.

Marican said one of the reasons for the increasing number of tourists (including those from the GCC countries) is because Singapore remains to be one the safest places in the world.

About the cost of living, he admitted that room rates (in hotels), food and other things are expensive compared with its
neighbouring countries.

“I cannot deny that Singapore is not a cheap city. It is a developed city so the cost of things is comparable to other developed cities considering it is one of the five richest countries in the world. The prices of commodities are not as expensive as London and Sidney. It is comparable to Dubai,” he said.

Some of Singapore’s latest attractions include integrated resorts such as the iconic Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, Cloud Forest, tallest man-made waterfalls, and the night safari among others. It is also home to many conferences, business meetings and international events such as the Water Week and Energy Week.

“We welcome Qatari visitors who come to experience the brilliance of our food, culture, arts and world-class entertainment – from theme parks and museums to F1 Grand Prix but also for business and school trips,” said Marican.