TOURISM | Nov visitor arrivals rise by 15 pct

Visitor arrivals in November increased by 15 percent year-on-year to 2,802,373, according to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). Same-day visitors accounted for 56 percent at 1,562,331.
Visitors from mainland China surged by 28 percent year-on-year to 1,975,951, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (898,373) and Fujian Province (78,196). The number of mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme also soared by 35 percent to 940,056.
Meanwhile, visitors from South Korea increased by 8 percent to 41,592, while those from Hong Kong (508,122) and Taiwan (69,625) decreased by 3% and 19% respectively. However, long-haul visitors from the United States (17,653), Australia (8,273), Canada (7,219) and the United Kingdom (6,402) all registered a year-on-year decline.
The average length of visitors’ stays decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 0.9 day in November. Overnight and same-day visitors recorded an average stay of 1.9 days and 0.2 day respectively.
In the first eleven months of this year, visitor arrivals reached 28,985,562, representing an 8 percent increase year-on-year; same-day visitors numbered 15,584,268, surpassing the annual total in 2013 (15,056,359). Visitors from mainland China, South Korea and Japan increased year-on-year, while those from Hong Kong and Taiwan decreased. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the US recorded a year-on-year increase, but those from Australia, Canada and UK registered a decrease.