Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:25pm EST
SINGAPORE, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Singapore suffered a 12.9 percent drop in visitor arrivals in January from a year ago as the global downturn and a sharp economic slowdown in Asia hurt tourism.
The fall in visitors comes at a time when Singapore is trying to boost tourism, with two multi-billion-dollar casino-resorts containing thousands of hotel rooms scheduled to open by the middle of next year.
The Singapore Tourism Board said in a statement dated Friday that the city-state received 771,000 visitors last month compared with 885,000 in January 2008 and down from 888,000 in December 2008.
The largest number of visitors came from Indonesia, China and Australia.
The tourism authority also said the average hotel room rate in Singapore fell 11.7 percent to S$209 ($135) in January from a year ago, while hotel occupancy plunged to 67 percent from 85 percent a year earlier.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N) is scheduled to open its Marina Bay Sands casino in Singapore before the end of this year, while Genting International's (GNTG.SI) Resorts World at Sentosa will open sometime next year.
(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Jan Dahinten)
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