STATISTICS | TOURISM | Fewer tour visitors in May

Guests are served at a check-in counter in the lobby of the MGM Macau casino resort

Visitors on package tours totaled 823,000 in May, down by 2.2 percent year-on-year. Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that package tour visitors from mainland China (653,000), Taiwan (48,000) and Hong Kong (23,000) dropped by 2 percent, 17 percent and 12.1 percent respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (39,000) surged by 46.2 percent.
According to statistical data disclosed yesterday, visitors arriving on package tours decreased by 1.1 percent year-on-
year to 688,000. Meanwhile, visitors joining local tours totaled 135,000, a decrease of 7.7 percent. Throughout the first five months of 2015, visitors on package tours totaled 4,243,000, up by 5.5 percent year-on-year.
According to DSEC, outbound residents using travel agency services totaled 124,000 in May, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 percent. Those traveling on package tours increased by 10.3 percent to 51,000. The main destinations were mainland China (77.3 percent of total), the Republic of Korea (6.9 percent), Taiwan (4.1 percent) and Hong Kong (3.7 percent). In the first five months of 2015, outbound residents using travel agency services totaled 615,000, up by 5.4 percent year-on-year.
A total of 863,000 guests checked into hotels and guesthouses in May 2015, down by 2.7 percent year-on-year. Guests from mainland China (547,000) and Taiwan (27,000) decreased by 4.2 percent and 2.3 percent respectively, while those from Hong Kong (112,000) increased by 6 percent. The average length of stay of guests in May 2015 was stable compared with the same time last year at 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses dropped by 6.6 percentage points year-
on-year to 78.9 percent.