TOURISM | Visitor arrivals down 1.7 pct

Visitor arrivals decreased by 1.7 percent year-on-year in August, according to data released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Visitor arrivals totaled 3,033,081 in August, up by 14.5 percent month-on-month. Same-day visitors totaled 1,608,385 (53.0 percent of the total), down 3.5 percent year-on-year; overnight visitors rose slightly by 0.4 percent to 1,424,696.
Visitors from mainland China decreased by 1.7 percent year-on-
year to 2,095,013, with those traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme dropping by 1 percent to 1,053,157. Visitors from mainland China came primarily from Guangdong Province (979,764), Hunan Province (90,429) and Fujian Province (90,260).
Visitors from Hong Kong (640,583) and Taiwan (91,378) increased by 0.8 percent and 3.5 percent respectively year-on-
year, while those from the Republic of Korea (43,710) declined by 24.8 percent. Long-haul visitors from the United States (12,838), Australia (5,584), the United Kingdom (5,193) and Canada (4,977) showed year-on-year decreases.
In the first eight months of this year, visitor arrivals totaled 20,438,474, down by 3.2 percent year-on-year; same-day visitors (11,101,798) and overnight visitors (9,336,676) decreased by 1.8 percent and 4.9 percent respectively.
Visitors from mainland China (13,636,972) decreased by 4.1 percent year-on-year, while those from Hong Kong (4,381,871), Taiwan (650,318) and the Republic of Korea (374,323) rose marginally by 0.6 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. Furthermore, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom recorded year-on-year decreases.