RIYADH: Lawrence Anderson, Singapore’s ambassador to the Kingdom, has denied that the embassy was complicating visa procedures for Saudi nationals.

Saudi citizens are always welcome to Singapore, he emphasized.

The envoy was responding to complaints by some citizens that Saudis now need a sponsor in Singapore to obtain a visitor’s visa to the Southeast Asian country.

Anderson said that the requirement to have a sponsor for a Singaporean visa was nothing new.

“This requirement has been in place since the beginning of the application, but we sometimes used to overlook this in order to complete requests if all other requirements were met,” he explained.

“At this time, however, the Singaporean government is tightening procedures, and this is a requirement for all nationals seeking entry into Singapore.”

He stressed that the procedures were not only for Saudis and that additional information about the conditions could be found on the embassy’s website.

The number of Saudi visitors to Singapore had increased, he pointed out.

“The number of tourist visas issued by the embassy in Riyadh during the past year reached nearly 26,000,” he added.

Meanwhile, the assistant to the CEO of the Singaporean Tourism Council, Leong Yu Keong, said that Gulf visitors, especially Saudis, Qataris and Emiratis, rank highest with regard to tourism expenditure in his country.