Package tours surge 80% in January

The number of inbound package tour visitors in January surged by 79.2% year-on-year to 239,000, driven by a sharp increase in visitors from mainland China, which grew by 88.4% to 217,000.

Meanwhile, international tour visitors also saw growth, with those arriving from the Republic of Korea rising by 27.3% to 11,000, according to data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Despite a decrease in the total number of available hotel guest rooms by 7% to 43,000, hotel occupancy rates experienced an upward trend.

The average occupancy rate increased by 3.9 percentage points to 89.8%, with 5-star hotels leading the way with a rate of 92%. Meanwhile, 4-star and 3-star hotels also recorded positive growth, with occupancy rates of 85.6% and 88.2%, respectively.

Although the total number of guests in hotel establishments declined by 4.7% year-on-year to 1,259,000, international guests showed an increase of 2.5%, totaling 101,000.

The Republic of Korea, Japan, and Indonesia saw notable growth in the number of visitors, with respective increases of 12.4%, 4.5%, and 24.3%.

However, visitors from Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore experienced declines.

On the outbound front, 38,000 Macau residents purchased travel services through agencies, marking an 18.5% increase from last year. The average length of stay for both inbound and outbound guests remained steady at 1.6 nights. LV