* On a muggy September afternoon, N Kumar of Kolkata with his family in tow, unmindful of what mega pixels and mega bytes mean, is nevertheless bargaining hard for a 40 E Sony digital handycam worth S$1000 at Sim Lim Square, a happening IT mall in Singapore.

* Minutes before boarding the return flight to Mumbai, Mrs Tarapore, just can't resist halting at a Chinese kiosk at the Changi airport. Ignoring her husband's glare, she picks up a set of 'China' silk cushion covers at a popular price of 3 for S$10.

* On her repeat visit to Singapore, Bangalore-based Nita Nagpal has nothing else but a trip to the fashionable Orchard Road, on her mind. Besides shopping, her tight 3-day itinerary is interspersed by a crawl to the watering hole Zouk.

Kumar, Tarapore, and Nita (not their real names), may be amongst the thousands of Indian visitors who throng the island city of Singapore but what differentiates them from others global visitors is their purchasing power. Believe it or not, Indian tourists visiting Singapore are amongst the highest spenders in Singapore with the average per capita expenditure going up to S$1,500 for an average trip of about 5.3 days. And what do they spend on is anyone's guess: nearly 80% of the expenditure goes into shopping.

"Currently, India ranks as the third largest country in tourist arrivals into Singapore. And Indians are also the highest spenders here," Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) deputy chairman and chief executive Lim Neo Chian told FE.

According to him, Indonesia and China still retain the top two slots in terms of tourist arrivals, however, India has 'rebounded quickly'.

While information on the socio economic profile of Indian visitors is lacking, STB officials indicate that majority of people travelling to Singapore from India are between the age group of 24-34. Most travel for the purpose of leisure followed by the business traveller. The year 2003 saw a high number of repeat visitors from India, as well. However, high spenders are usually corporate chieftains on business trips, industry bigwigs or a yuppie couple on a holiday, STB officials said.

"India is one of the fastest growing market for us. In fact, July 2004 has been the best in our history when we recorded a growth of 24% over January-July 2002. We have had 4,50,000 Indian arrivals this year as compared to 3 lakh arrivals in 2003," Mr Chian said.

During the year 2002, visitor arrivals into Singapore from India were 375,659 while in the Sars-hit 2003 year it came down to 309,423.

According to STB officials, overall visitor arrival for 2004 (until July 2004) were 8,02,283 (marking a 12% increase over the last record of July 2001, where the total visitor arrival was 714,944).

With such impressive numbers, it's no surprise that STB is expanding its focus to the secondary cities like Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. According to Mr Chian, so far the top four metros-Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai-have accounted for 50% of the total arrivals from India into Singapore. "We now plan to focus on secondary cities and expect this geographical shift to contribute significantly to our business," Mr Chian said.

Last month, the Board launched a campaign 'Uniquely Singapore' through a six-city roadshow in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to penetrate into towns and cities beyond the top metros. In line with that focus, STB now plans to open a regional office in New Delhi which will cater to the entire north India.

The aim behind the campaign, STB's area director, west India, Edward Chew, said was to target the first-time tourist in other cities and towns and at the same time reposition Singapore to the more seasoned traveller in metros who may be looking for a more "lifestyle" holiday.

(The correspondent was in Singapore at the invitation of Singapore Tourism Board)

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