Tourism | Statistics: Group tours slump

Visitors on package tours totaled 564,000 in March, down by 36.2 percent (pct) year-on-year and down slightly by 0.6 pct month-to-month. According to information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), package tour visitors from mainland China (446,000) decreased by 37.4 pct year-on-year, and those from the Republic of Korea (20,000) and Taiwan (31,000) declined by 44.3 pct and 38.9 pct respectively. In the first quarter of 2016, visitors on package tours totaled 1,701,000, down by 34.3 pct year-on-­year.
DSEC indicated that outbound residents using travel agency services totaled 108,000 in March, down by 18.3 pct year-on-year. Residents traveling on package tours decreased by 20.3 pct year-on-year to 45,000. Those traveling to mainland China dropped by 35.6 pct, while those to the Republic of Korea and Taiwan soared. In the first quarter of 2016, outbound residents using travel agency services totaled 314,000, down by 17.6 pct year-on-year.
Statistics also indicate there were 106 hotels and guesthouses operating in Macau at the end of March 2016, an increase of 7 year-on-year. The number of guest rooms totaled 32,000, up by 4,000 (+13.6 pct) year-on-year, with rooms of 5-star hotels (20,000) and 4-star hotels (8,000) rising by 11.7 pct and 28.4 pct respectively.
A total of 893,000 guests checked into hotels and guesthouses in March, up by 12.7 pct year-on-year. Guests from mainland China (557,000) increased by 9.8 pct, while those from Hong Kong (145,000) surged by 44.7 pct. The average length of stay of guests held stable at 1.4 nights, as it was in March 2015. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses was 76.5 pct, down by 0.9 percentage points year-on-year.
In the first quarter of the year, guests staying in hotels and guesthouses totaled 2,660,000, up by 13.4 pct year-on-year. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 77.2 pct and the average length of stay of guests was 1.4 nights.