Package tour arrivals surge by 30 pct in August

The number of package tour visitors surged by 30 percent year-on-
year to about 1,267,000 in August. Data released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that tourists from mainland China increased by 36 percent to 1,050,000, with 396,000 coming from Guangdong province.
Tourists from Taiwan (71,000), Hong Kong (41,000), South Korea (36,000) and Japan (14,000) increased by 13 percent, 7 percent, 11 percent and 20 percent respectively. Visitors from Thailand  (11,000) decreased by 31 percent.
In the first eight months of 2014, package tour visitors reached 7,810,000, representing a 21 percent year-on-year increase.
The number of guests checking into hotels and guesthouses has, however, dropped by three percent year-on-
year to 965,000 in August. DSEC said this is due to a significant decrease in tourists from Hong Kong (125,000) and Taiwan (32,000). Guests from mainland China however, increased by nine percent to 639,000.
The average length of stay was 1.4 nights, up by 0.1 night year-on-year.
The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses dropped slightly by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 90 percent, with 4-star hotels leading at 92 percent.
DSEC released in a statement that there were 98 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of August 2014, providing 28,000 guest rooms, up by one percent year-on-year. Five-star hotels accounted for 66 percent of the total supply, with 18,000 rooms.
In the first eight months of this year, visitor-guests accounted for 69 percent of the total overnight visitors, down by 1 percentage point year-on-
year. CP