Officials in Singapore say the city-state’s tourism industry will be harder hit by the coronavirus pandemic than originally expected, with the novel coronavirus strain Covid-19 affecting some 100 countries.
“Now it’s really the fact that there’s a global spread of this virus and therefore we will have to re-evaluate certainly the numbers,” Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran said last week.=
In February, according to Bloomberg News, Singapore forecast a drop in tourism of up to 30 percent, exceeding the 2003 SARS pandemic. To brace for the impact, Singapore is considering additional aid for business. Its 2020 budget presented last month, included a pledge of SGD6.4 billion (US$4.6 billion) in support, including a SGD4 billion stabilization package.
