Data Visualization on Tourism

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to huge worldwide health, economic, and social challenges. Travel and tourism are among the most affected sectors with a massive fall in international demand amid global travel restrictions including many countries’ borders being closed fully, in an attempt to contain the virus. While positive news on vaccines has boosted the hopes of tourism businesses and travelers alike, challenges remain. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 (L. U. Calderwood and M. Soshkin, The travel and tourism competitiveness report 2019, World Economic Forum 2019) ranks Singapore 17th out of 140 countries and districts overall, which was the third best in Asia only behind Japan (ranked 4th) and Hong Kong (ranked 14th). The report ranks Singapore’s business environment, international openness, ground, and port infrastructure as the top 3 in the world. The tourism industry also functions as an important pillar of the Singapore economy, contributing 4 percent to its gross domestic product (GDP) (Channel News Asia, The Big Read: A vital economic pillar, S’pore’s tourism sector faces a brutal test of mettle amid COVID-19 fallout). Affected by Covid-19, the number of international visitors plunged badly in Singapore and the adverse economic impact is being felt not just by the tourism sector, but also by related industries such as retail and food and beverage. Destinations or attractions that rely heavily on international, business, and events tourism are particularly struggling, with many coastal, regional, and rural areas faring better than cities (OECD, Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and supporting recovery). As the world starts to slowly pivot from COVID-19 crisis management to recover and reopen economies, we see how international travel is unlikely to resume to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon. Many local retailers and small and medium-sized businesses form the backbone of Singapore’s economy and play a critical role in the tourism sector, businesses must be ready to reimagine, innovate, and explore new ways of doing business while experiencing a fundamental shift in consumer expectations and industry operations. This work focusses on how data visualization can be used to guide the tourism sector. This paper analyzed the past decade’s visitor retail expenditure behavior and hotel industry pattern in order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on tourism sectors. These insights are a glimpse into visitor spending patterns and the hotel industry revealing the industry’s current state across tourism precincts that were impacted due to the decline in visitors in recent months. To help the rejuvenation of businesses in the tourism sector, we will also provide insights to help businesses better curate their consumer product offerings and navigate through these challenging times. This paper also highlights seven key thrusts to help spur local business recovery and this mainly covers two aspects which are inbound tourism and hospitality. We hope these insights will be useful in revitalizing the sector for a more resilient future.