This year’s Great Singapore Sale shoppers spent a record $2.12 billion on their MasterCards.
The annual GSS, which this year ran from May 30 to July 26, suffered from a reduction in spending by locals – and a 3.4 per cent reduction in the number of inbound tourists. Yet spending rose 2.2 per cent to reach a five year record.
The number of transactions was up 7.3 per cent.
While there were fewer tourists, they spent 15.3 per cent more in value than during the 2014 GSS – and the number of transactions was up by more than 20 per cent.
Singaporeans conducted more transactions on MasterCard than previously, but their combined spend was down marginally from $1.46 billion to $1.41 billion.
The most significant trend in spending was the dominance of the restaurant category, suggesting foreigners are spending more on dining out than previously.
Group head and GM of MasterCard Singapore, Deborah Heng, explained: “What’s interesting is that, this year, we are seeing dining places emerge consistently as a top spend category for visitors, an indication that fine dining may be growing in appeal for travellers to Singapore.”
Australia, Malaysia and China were once again the top three sources of tourists to the city state, followed by Indonesia and Japan, who swapped positions from last year in fourth and fifth.
