Visitor arrivals jump to 30.1 million in 2008

Visitor arrivals jump to 30.1 million in 2008

The number of visitor arrivals and non-residents reached 30.1 million in 2008, with visitor arrivals totalling 22.9 million, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) announced yesterday.

The majority of visitors came from the mainland at 11.5 million, followed by Hong Kong at seven million, Taiwan at 1.3 million, Malaysia at 428,603, and Japan at 366,920.

The number of mainland visitors under the individual visit scheme totalled 6.5 million, taking up 57 percent of the total mainland visitors. Same-day visitors were 12.3 million, sharing 54 percent of the total visitor arrivals. Visitor arrivals in package tours accounted for 21 percent of the total at 4.9 million.

In 2008, the number of residents travelling outbound in package tours increased by eight percent over 2007 to 229,188 and those travelling under individual arrangements using services of travel agencies dropped by three percent to 377,229.

In light of the opening of three new hotels last year, the hotel guest rooms availability rose by eight percent year-on-year to 17,490 whereas the average occupancy rate decreased by 2.7 percentage points to 74.5 percent.

The number of hotel guests increased by 14 percent from 2007 to 6.5 million with an average stay length of 1.44 nights, up by 0.10 night compared with 2007.

Per-capita visitors spending was 1,729 patacas in 2008, up by 6 percent over 2007, with mainland visitors having the highest per-capita spending of 3,571 patacas.

Per-capita visitors non-shopping spending excluding gaming expenses amounted to1,027 patacas, up by nine percent over 2007, with that of the mainland visitors leading at 1,378 patacas. Expenses on accommodation and food and beverage took up 46 percent and 36 percent respectively of the per-capita non-shopping spending.

Per-capita visitors shopping spending went up slightly by one percent over 2007 to 702 patacas, with mainland visitors leading at 2,193 patacas. Spending on local food products and clothing took the largest share of 29 percent and 19 percent respectively.

Per-diem spending of visitors went up by 3 percent over 2007 to 1,506 patacas; visitors from mainland China had the highest per-diem spending of 2,521 patacas. The average length of stay at 1.1 days was the same as in 2007, while the respective average for tourists and same-day visitors was 1.7 days and 0.2 day.

Per-capita visitor spending arriving by sea and by land was 1,361 patacas and 1,989,patacas respectively, up by two percent and 10 percent over 2007, while per-capita visitor spending by air dropped by nine percent year-on-year to 3,865 patacas.

Saturday, 04 April 2009
Macau Daily Times