SINGAPORE continues to be favourite destintion for people of Chandigarh. Data available indicates that from January to October 2007, 15 per cent more people visited Singapore in comparision with the same period last year. Kenneth Lim, area director, northern and eastern India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal, Singapore Tourism Board(STB) said that during January to November 2007 as many as 6,78,914 Indians visited Singapore indicating an increase of 13.66 per cent over the same period of the previous year. “We are hopeful that by the end of 2007 as many as seven lakh visitors from India would have set foot in Singapore,”he said. During 2004, 4,71,181 Indians visited Singapore and in 2005 this number had swelled to 5,83,542. Talking to ET here today, Mr Lim said STB’s strategy would be to strengthen ties with the travel trade in Chandigarh as they are an important intermediary to reach out to the end consumer. Additionally, he said, the STB would be on the lookout for other opportunities and platforms to increase the awareness of Singapore as a key family destination. STB’s participation in Millionaire Asia, Chandigarh, this Saturday is one such example. He said India was the fourth largest inbound market for visitor arrivals to Singapore contributing to 7 per cent of the total visitor arrivals in 2006. Of the total tourist arrivals in Singapore in 2006, lesiure visitors make up for 70 per cent while the business travellers comprise about 30 per cent of the total Indian arrivals. “For us Chandgiarh and Punjab are second engines of growth and especially those with a high per capita income would be our potential customers,” said Mr Lim. “The healthy upward trend in visitor arrivals from Chandigarh puts the city as one of the key emerging tier 2 cities for the STB,” he added