Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that as the summer holiday approached, visitor arrivals increased by 16.6% month-to-month to 3,034,297 in July 2018 and rose by 4.0% year-on-year. Overnight visitors (1,636,904) and same-day visitors (1,397,393) grew by 1.7% and 6.8% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors went up by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.3 days, with that of overnight visitors rising by 0.1 day to 2.2 days and that of same-day visitors staying at 0.2 day.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 7.6% year-on-year to 2,168,413 in July, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 7.0% to 1,060,982. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (901,872), Hunan Province (108,775) and Fujian Province (80,612). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (59,451), Hong Kong (545,246) and Taiwan (101,918) dropped by 19.8%, 2.5% and 1.0% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (17,490) and Australia (6,791) registered year-on-year growth, whereas those from Canada (5,237) and the United Kingdom (4,290) decreased.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land grew by 9.9% year-on-year to 1,786,783, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,526,724) increasing by 9.4%. Visitor arrivals by sea dropped by 7.6% year-on-year to 965,282; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (564,397) and the Taipa Ferry Terminal (400,885) decreased by 10.7% and 2.8% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air totalled 282,232, up by 14.3% year-on-year.
In the first seven months of 2018, visitor arrivals totalled 19,848,487,up by 7.4% year-on-year; overnight visitors (10,403,975)and same-day visitors (9,444,512) grew by 7.2% and 7.6% respectively. The average length of stay of visitors held steady year-on-year at 1.2 days, with that of overnight visitors (2.2 days) rising by 0.1 day and that of same-day visitors (0.2day) remaining unchanged. Analysed by country/place, visitors from Mainland China (13,873,577) and Taiwan (626,865) increased by 12.3% and 0.5% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (483,403) and Hong Kong (3,545,377)dropped by 4.8% and 3.5% respectively. Visitors from the United States (114,076) and Australia (51,567) recorded year-on-year growth, whereas those from Canada (42,096) and the United Kingdom (32,485) declined.