Tourism | Hotel guests leap 160% in March

The number of guests checked into hotels & guesthouses increased by 160.2% year-on-year to 622,000 in March, with mainland guests (539,000) soaring by 216.5%, according to data from the Statistics and Census Service.
Attributable to a rise in overnight visitors in the SAR, the average occupancy rate of guest rooms stood at 55.3%, representing a growth of 16.9 percentage points month-to-month and an upsurge of 32.1 percentage points year-on-year.
The average length of stay of guests shortened by 0.1 night year-on-year to 1.7 nights.
In the first quarter of 2021, the average occupancy rate of guest rooms was 44.9%, up by 3.6 percentage points year-on-year. The number of guests in hotels and guesthouses dropped by 1.2% year-on-year to 1,454,000, whereas their average length of stay went up by 0.1 night to 1.7 nights.
Meanwhile, 4,400 visitors joined local tours. Outbound residents using the services of travel agencies totaled 10,000, and 9,900 (97.1%) of them went to mainland China. In the first quarter of 2021, visitors joining local tours decreased by 29.1% year-on-year to 6,600, and outbound residents using the services of travel agencies declined by 78.0% to 19,000.
Meanwhile, local overnight tours will become more attractive during the summer holidays, Wong Fai, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, has forecast.
Officially known as “Stay, Dine and See Macao,” the overnight tours will see more appealing hotel packages for local “tourists” to choose from, Wong added when justifying his expectation.
In addition, to cope with the anticipated popularity during the summer holidays, Wong expects more groups will be set up to offer the tours.
Discussing people’s choice of hotels, Wong disclosed that 60% of participants have chosen hotels and resorts in Cotai. Most properties in Cotai focus on attracting families through their facilities, although some have also chosen to integrate external elements, such as the helicopter tour, into their packages. For the time being, Wong pointed out, hotel prices have remained stable, while hotels are willing to keep offering special offers to customers.
Latest data shows that nearly 1,600 sets of overnight tours have been booked or sold for the weekend. This equates to nearly 4,000 local residents. LV/AL