Singapore's hospitality sector has had a good first quarter of 2012, with tourist arrivals up 15% to 3.57 million, average daily rates (ADRs) up 11.4% to $259 year-on-year, and revenue per available room (revpar) up 14.7% to S$224, according to CBRE Hotels’ latest report.

Hotel revpar in Singapore is “at a historic high”, says Robert McIntosh, executive director at CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific, exceeding the previous high of $201 achieved in the last peak of October 2008. “There’s no clear sign at present that it has peaked,” he adds. “We’re likely to see it trending up further, buoyed by very strong visitor arrivals.”

While the rate of growth in revpar has slowed to less than 10% month on month, McIntosh expects rates to continue rising “at a more sustainable level” on the back of robust visitor arrivals, the availability of gaming facilities, increase in conference and exhibition space, and other attractions and events hosted at the two integrated resorts, Resorts World at Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands.

Three more hotels were completed in Q1 this year: the 333-room Bay Hotel in Telok Blangah, as well as the 172-room Equarius Hotel and 22-villa Beach Villas, both of which are located in Resorts World at Sentosa on Sentosa Island. The three hotels combined added about 500 new rooms, with another 1,072 rooms expected to come on stream by year-end. CBRE Hotels estimates that by end-2013, there will be another 2,450 rooms.