Package tour visitors surged 13pct in April

Visitors to Macau on package tours totaled 757,000 in April 2018, according to newly- released information from the Statistics and Census Service, up by 12.9 percent year-on-year and 6.2 percent month-to-month.

Package tour visitors from mainland China (596,000) and South Korea (50,000) grew by 12.2 percent and 27.8 percent respectively year-on-year, while those from Taiwan (53,000) surged by 57.5 percent. In the first four months of 2018, visitors on package tours totaled over 2.88 million, up by 20.1 percent compared to the same timeframe in 2017.

Outbound residents using the services of travel agencies increased by 8.1 percent year-on-year to 120,000. The number of residents travelling on package tours in April decreased by 8.9 percent year-on-year to 41,000, with those going to mainland China dropping by 22.4 percent to 27,000.

In the first four months of 2018, outbound residents using the services of travel agencies totaled 501,000, up by 12.6 percent year- on-year.

There were 115 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of April 2018, eight more than the previous year. The number of guest rooms grew by 6 percent year-on-year to 39,000, with 5-star hotel rooms rising by 7.9 percent to 24,000, accounting for 61.2 percent of the total.

The number of guests in hotels and guesthouses in April rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year to 1.16 million, with those coming from mainland China (792,000) and Taiwan (43,000) increasing by 16.8 percent and 4.5 percent respectively, while those from South Korea (35,000) and Hong Kong (135,000) dropped 3.6 percent and 19.5 percent respectively.

In the first four months of 2018, the number of guests of hotels and guesthouses was just under 4.52 million, up by 8.8 percent year-on-year.