September hotel occupancy drops

September hotel occupancy was at 78.6%, slightly down compared to the month prior, which was at 88.7%, during summer holidays.

The number of guests of hotel establishments last month leapt 158.2% year-on-year to 1.13 million. Guests from mainland China (813,000), Hong Kong (178,000) and Taiwan (30,000) jumped 144.2%, 917.7% and 873.7% respectively, albeit from a low base.

Local guests (46,000) dropped 41.5%.

Meanwhile, guests’ average length of stay was 1.6 nights.

In the first three quarters of 2023, the average occupancy rate of hotel guest rooms rose 43.1 percentage points year-on-year to 80.6%.

A rise is expected in October due to the Golden Week. Government data shows the eight-day National Day Holiday logged nearly a million visitors, mostly from the mainland.

Tourism authorities said the average hotel occupancy rate topped 87.9% during the period.

Further, in September, there were 133,000 visitors arriving on package tours.

In the first three quarters of 2023, visitors arriving on package tours totaled 743,000, and Macau residents purchasing outbound services through travel agencies rocketed 931.7% year-on-year to 291,000. LV