Building RealBUILDING REALIndustry brief
Industry brief · Hospitality & Tourism

Hospitality and tourism in Singapore, where our guests build

Two Building Real founders serve travellers and locals in Singapore. Dhruv Shanker's Mad Onion Slicer teaches Indian home cooking to travellers through Airbnb Experiences, and Ivan Chandra Suriady's Paco Coffee runs a character-led specialty coffee bar at Marina Bay. This brief covers what surrounds them: who visits and what they spend, hotels and experiences, AI in tourism, where the money is moving and the funds and rules that shape the trade.

Singapore
Checked 20 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

16.9M

international visitor arrivals in Singapore in 2025, up 2.3% on 20241

Counts trips, not unique people
S$32,755M

spent by visitors in Singapore in 2025, against S$29,781 million in 2024, according to STB's tourism receipts data2

Tourism receipts, full year
4.4M

visitors in the first quarter of 2026, 3% more than a year earlier, the government told Parliament3

One quarter only
81.9%

average hotel occupancy in 2025, against 81.4% in 2024, at an average room rate of S$273.56, down 1%4

516,500

people worked in UN-defined tourism industries in Singapore in December 2025, up from 514,000 a year earlier5

Includes industries outside STB's tourism definition
6.0%

job vacancy rate in accommodation in the second quarter of 2026, against 3.0% for services as a whole, MOM data show6

One quarter

02Who visits and what they spend

Where visitors come from

Visitor arrivals by source market, 2025

Mainland China
3.1M
Indonesia
2.4M
Malaysia
1.3M
Australia
1.3M
India
1.2M

Mainland China (3.1 million), Indonesia (2.4 million) and Malaysia (1.3 million) were Singapore's largest sources of visitors in 2025, with Australia (1.3 million) and India (1.2 million) close behind7.

Business events are a growing slice: STB says MICE tourism receipts grew more than 35% in 2025 to S$2.3 billion8.

MICE receipts overlap the spending categories shown alongside, so the two are not added.

Where visitor money goes

Visitor spending by category, 2025

Sightseeing, entertainment & gaming
S$7,349M
Accommodation
S$5,414M
Food and beverage
S$4,912M

In 2025, visitors spent S$7,349 million on sightseeing, entertainment and gaming, against S$6,069 million in 20249, S$5,414 million on accommodation, against S$5,141 million10, and S$4,912 million on food and beverage, against S$4,269 million, according to STB's tourism receipts data11.

Sightseeing, entertainment and gaming includes casino gaming. Shopping and other categories are not shown. These are visitor spending categories, not the size of any guest's market.

In the first half of 2026, visitors spent S$15,715 million, against S$15,766 million in the first half of 2025, according to STB's tourism receipts data12.

03How AI is reshaping it

What hotels, attractions and platforms report

  • Hotels. PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering became the first Singapore hotel to use an AI-powered inventory system with automated guided vehicles, lifting its storage capacity by over 200%, the government says13.
  • Attractions. TTG Asia reported that AI and mixed-reality training for Mount Faber Leisure Group's cable car technicians cut training time per person by more than 60%, with estimated annual overtime savings of up to 200 hours14.
  • Platforms. Airbnb says nearly 45% of support issues that start with its AI assistant are now resolved without a human agent, and its support cost per booking fell about 16% year on year in Q2 202615.
  • In the episode. Ivan Chandra Suriady explains that Paco Coffee runs on Paco OS, in-house software that one developer built with AI instead of buying SaaS.
No Singapore survey of AI use in hotels or attractions with a published method was found. These are single cases reported by the government, a trade publication and Airbnb, not measured across the industry. Airbnb's figures are global and describe its own support costs.

What the government is offering

  • Playbook. In May 2026 STB introduced its first AI Playbook for Tourism, a four-phase roadmap running from easy-to-adopt AI tools to AI agents that plan, execute and optimise operations end to end, as its Tcube programme became the Tcube Centre of Excellence, TTG Asia reported16.
  • Training and tools. In May 2026 the government announced that STB's TIP-iT scheme will also fund customised in-house skills training for rank-and-file tourism workers, and that from the second half of 2026 STB will offer more streamlined funding under Enterprise Singapore's EDGE grant for pre-approved digital solutions such as a hotel digital concierge17.
  • Tax. Budget 2026 announced that the Enterprise Innovation Scheme's 400% tax deduction will be extended to up to S$50,000 a year of AI spending for Years of Assessment 2027 and 202818.
These are announcements, not money spent. The tax deduction applies across the economy, not only to tourism. TTG Asia is the only source for the playbook's four phases.

04Where the money is moving

Hotels and big projects

  1. Marina Bay Sands broke ground in 2025 on its US$8 billion expansion, STB says19.
  2. YTL Hotels and a private fund managed by BlackRock jointly bought the 304-key Capri by Fraser, China Square for S$330 million, about S$1.1 million per key, their second joint Singapore hospitality investment, HVS reported in October 202620.
  • New rooms. Singapore added 644 new hotel keys in 2025, STB says21.
  • Revenue. Singapore's 488 hotel establishments earned S$8,327.5 million in operating revenue in 2024, against S$7,813.8 million in 202322.
The Marina Bay Sands figure is the developer's planned investment, not money spent. The Capri deal comes from a broker newsletter. New keys are gross additions, with closures not netted. Hotel operating revenue includes food, beverage and other income, and SingStat counts hotel establishments on a different definition from STB's gazetted hotels.

Experiences and platforms

  • Worldwide. Tours, activities and attractions worldwide reached US$271 billion in gross bookings in 2025 and are projected to exceed US$340 billion by 2029, an 8% nominal annual growth rate from 2023 to 2029 against 5% for travel overall, with just 33% of 2025 bookings made online, according to Phocuswright23.
  • Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb says it grew Experiences supply by nearly 80% year on year in Q2 2026, with seats booked accelerating24.
  • Airbnb hotels. In its Q2 2026 shareholder letter, Airbnb says it has added thousands of boutique and independent hotels across more than 20 top destinations, including Singapore, and that hotel nights booked grew about three times as fast as its homes business25.
  • GetYourGuide. STB and GetYourGuide have signed a two-year memorandum of understanding to develop, distribute and promote Singapore's tourism experiences to international travellers, the platform's first international destination marketing partnership outside Germany, TTG Asia reported in October 202626.
Phocuswright is a market research firm and its later figure is a projection. Airbnb's figures are global company statements; hotels remain a small share of its nights booked. The GetYourGuide agreement is a memorandum of understanding with no published value.

05Governments: funds, rules and wages

Policy timeline

  1. Singapore Tourism Board. In February 2026 STB forecast 17 to 18 million international visitor arrivals for 2026, bringing in about S$31.0 to 32.5 billion in tourism receipts27.
  2. Budget 2026. The government announced that the Enterprise Innovation Scheme's 400% tax deduction will be extended to up to S$50,000 a year of AI spending for Years of Assessment 2027 and 202818.
  3. METI (then MTI). The government said it will inject S$740 million of fresh funds into the Tourism Development Fund over the next five years, having announced in 2024 an injection of over S$300 million28.
  4. METI (then MTI). To sustain visitor demand during the Middle East energy crisis, the government announced that STB is expanding over 20 trade partnerships across its top 10 source markets, with more than S$20 million in total investments from STB and in-market partners, alongside S$5 million for the Business Events in Singapore grant and a new S$5 million Market Access Fund29.
  5. METI (then MTI). The government said it will extend the Hotel Rejuvenation Fund by a year, after 13 hotels began rejuvenation projects since its 2025 launch, and that the Kickstart Fund will now support up to S$1 million for new tourism product pilots30.
  6. METI (then MTI). STB's TIP-iT scheme will also fund in-house skills training for rank-and-file tourism workers, including Work Permit holders, and from the second half of 2026 STB will offer more streamlined EDGE grant funding for pre-approved digital solutions17.
  7. Singapore Tourism Board. Under its Tourism 2040 roadmap, STB is aiming for S$47 billion to S$50 billion in tourism receipts by 204031.
  8. URA. Short-term accommodation, meaning stays of less than three consecutive months, is illegal at private residential properties in Singapore; individuals found guilty face a fine of up to S$5,000, and recalcitrant or multi-property offenders are taken to court32.
The May 2026 funds and schemes are announcements and allocations, not money spent; the trade-partnership amounts are separate and are not added. The arrivals and receipts forecast was made in February 2026, and the 2040 figure is a target. URA's rule covers lodging, meaning stays in private homes; it does not apply to classes or experiences hosted at home.

Hiring rules and wages

  • Quota. Hotels count as services-sector firms under Singapore's foreign-worker rules: Work Permit holders can make up at most 35% of the workforce, with monthly levies of S$450 to S$800 per basic-skilled worker depending on how close a firm is to that cap33.
  • Vacancies. Accommodation had a job vacancy rate of 6.0% in the second quarter of 2026, against 3.0% for services as a whole and 2.6% for food and beverage services, MOM data show6.

Waiters in food services have a wage ladder under the Progressive Wage Model34:

  1. S$2,320
    Monthly floor for a full-time citizen or PR waiter from 1 July 202634
  2. S$2,460
    From July 202734
  3. S$2,600
    From July 202834
The wage ladder applies to full-time Singapore citizen and PR waiters at SFA-licensed food outlets of firms that hire foreign workers. MOM's page for it does not cover hotels.

06Trends to watch

More visitors, more spending

Singapore received 16.9 million international visitor arrivals in 2025, up 2.3% on 20241, and visitors spent S$32,755 million, against S$29,781 million in 20242. STB says business events receipts grew more than 35% in 2025 to S$2.3 billion8.

Hotels stay busy as new rooms arrive

Hotels averaged 81.9% occupancy in 2025, against 81.4% in 20244, while Singapore added 644 new hotel keys21 and Marina Bay Sands broke ground on its US$8 billion expansion, STB says19.

Staff are the scarce input

Accommodation had a job vacancy rate of 6.0% in the second quarter of 2026, against 3.0% for services as a whole6. In May 2026 the government announced that STB's TIP-iT scheme will also fund in-house skills training for rank-and-file tourism workers, including Work Permit holders17.

AI moves from pilots to a playbook

STB introduced its first AI Playbook for Tourism in May 2026, TTG Asia reported16. The early cases are single sites: PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering lifted its storage capacity by over 200% with an AI-powered inventory system, the government says13, and TTG Asia reported that AI and mixed-reality training cut training time per person for Mount Faber's cable car technicians by more than 60%14.

Experiences move online and get crowded

Just 33% of 2025 bookings for tours, activities and attractions worldwide were made online, according to Phocuswright23. Airbnb says it grew Experiences supply by nearly 80% year on year in Q2 202624, and STB and GetYourGuide have signed a two-year memorandum of understanding to promote Singapore's tourism experiences, TTG Asia reported26.

07The problems our guests are solving

Dhruv Shanker on Building Real
Singapore

EP02Dhruv Shanker · Mad Onion Slicer

In the episode, Dhruv describes building a deliberately simple Indian cooking class on his balcony, sold to travellers through Airbnb Experiences, which he says became Airbnb's highest-rated culinary experience.

S$4,912M

Visitors spent S$4,912 million on food and beverage in Singapore in 2025, against S$4,269 million in 2024, according to STB's tourism receipts data11.

Visitor spending on food and drink, shown as context. Cooking classes may be counted under other categories, so this is not a measure of Mad Onion Slicer's market or bookings.
~80%

Airbnb says it grew Experiences supply by nearly 80% year on year in Q2 2026, with seats booked accelerating24. For hosts, more supply means more competition for each booking.

Airbnb's figure is global, not Singapore.
Watch the episode →
Ivan Chandra Suriady on Building Real
Singapore

EP13Ivan Chandra Suriady · Paco Coffee

In the episode, Ivan explains that he picked one of Singapore's most crowded markets on purpose. Paco Coffee runs one bar at The Sail @ Marina Bay and sells specialty-grade beans through illustrated characters instead of tasting notes, and he says one of its blends won Gold at the Global Coffee Awards Asia, judged double-blind.

4,707

This is the market Paco chose to enter: Singapore's 4,707 cafes and food and drinks kiosks earned S$2,938 million in operating revenue in 2024, against S$2,881.7 million from 4,512 establishments in 202335.

SingStat's class covers every cafe and kiosk, not only specialty coffee. It describes the market, not Paco's own sales.

Across retail food businesses, openings still outnumbered closures: Singapore recorded 3,357 new retail food establishments and 2,431 closures from 1 January to 23 October 2025, based on ACRA registration data36.

ACRA registrations across all retail food businesses, not shopfronts and not Paco.
Watch the episode →

See how these conversations connect on the Discovery Atlas →

08Sources

One research agent gathered 40 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 24 figures as written, corrected 16 and cut 0. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · 2025 calendar year
  2. Singapore Tourism Board via SingStat Table Builder M550371 (updated 19 Oct 2026) · 2025 vs 2024, full year
  3. METI (then MTI): written reply to parliamentary questions, DPM Gan Kim Yong, 6 May 2026 · January to March 2026
  4. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · 2025 calendar year
  5. Ministry of Manpower via SingStat Table Builder M184171 (updated 6 Jul 2026) · December 2025 vs December 2024
  6. Ministry of Manpower via data.gov.sg, Job Vacancy Rate by Industry (updated 22 Sep 2026) · Second quarter of 2026
  7. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · 2025 calendar year
  8. Singapore Tourism Board: CEO Melissa Ow, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · 2025 vs 2024
  9. Singapore Tourism Board via SingStat Table Builder M550371 (updated 19 Oct 2026) · 2025 vs 2024, full year
  10. Singapore Tourism Board via SingStat Table Builder M550371 (updated 19 Oct 2026) · 2025 vs 2024, full year
  11. Singapore Tourism Board via SingStat Table Builder M550371 (updated 19 Oct 2026) · 2025 vs 2024, full year
  12. Singapore Tourism Board via SingStat Table Builder M550371 (updated 19 Oct 2026) · January to June 2026 vs January to June 2025
  13. METI (then MTI): Minister Grace Fu, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Reported 8 May 2026
  14. TTG Asia (Audrey Ng), 13 Oct 2026 · Reported 13 Oct 2026
  15. Airbnb Q2 2026 shareholder letter (Aug 2026) · Q2 2026
  16. TTG Asia (Karen Yue), 8 May 2026 · Launched 8 May 2026
  17. METI (then MTI): Minister Grace Fu, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Announced 8 May 2026; EDGE support from 2H 2026
  18. Singapore Budget 2026 statement, Feb 2026 · Budget 2026 (Feb 2026); YA 2027-2028
  19. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · Groundbreaking in 2025
  20. HVS Asia Pacific Hospitality Newsletter via Hospitality Net, week ending 2 Oct 2026 · Deal reported week ending 2 Oct 2026
  21. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · 2025 calendar year
  22. SingStat Table Builder M601481, Services Survey (updated 4 Mar 2026) · 2024 vs 2023
  23. Phocuswright, Feb 2026 · 2025 actual; 2029 projection
  24. Airbnb Q2 2026 shareholder letter (Aug 2026) · Q2 2026
  25. Airbnb Q2 2026 shareholder letter (Aug 2026) · Q2 2026 letter (Aug 2026)
  26. TTG Asia, 16 Oct 2026 · Reported 16 Oct 2026
  27. Singapore Tourism Board media release, 3 Feb 2026 · Forecast for 2026, made 3 Feb 2026
  28. METI (then MTI): Minister Grace Fu, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Announced 8 May 2026; to be disbursed over five years
  29. METI (then MTI): Minister Grace Fu, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Announced 8 May 2026
  30. METI (then MTI): Minister Grace Fu, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Announced 8 May 2026
  31. Singapore Tourism Board: CEO Melissa Ow, speech at the Tourism Industry Conference, 8 May 2026 · Target for 2040, restated 8 May 2026
  32. Urban Redevelopment Authority: Short-Term Accommodation (updated 15 Jun 2026) · Rule in force; URA page updated 15 Jun 2026
  33. Ministry of Manpower: Services sector requirements (updated 16 Sep 2026) · Rules as at 16 Sep 2026
  34. Ministry of Manpower: Progressive Wage Model, food services (updated 1 Sep 2026) · Schedule 1 Jul 2026 to 30 Jun 2029
  35. SingStat Table Builder M601481, Services Survey (updated 4 Mar 2026) · 2024 vs 2023
  36. METI (then MTI): written reply to PQ, DPM Gan Kim Yong, 5 Nov 2025 · 1 Jan to 23 Oct 2025