SINGAPORE, Feb. 9 -- Singapore is seeing Chinese visitors in record numbers as it welcomed 1.24 million Chinese visitors for the first half of last year, a hefty 27 percent rise from the same period the previous year.

For the first time, the Chinese emerged as the biggest spenders, overtaking Indonesian visitors.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures show that Chinese visitors spent almost 1.52 billion Singapore dollars (1.2 billion US dollars) in the first half of last year, 3 percent more than Indonesians. This excludes what they spent on sightseeing and entertainment.

Just four years ago, Indonesian visitors chalked up nearly 1 billion more U.S. dollars in tourism receipts than Chinese visitors. Indonesians had been the biggest-spending visitors here since 2007.