Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,427,086 in September 2016, up slightly by 0.5% year-on-year. Overnight visitors rose by 11.8% year-on-year to 1,311,533, accounting for 54.0% of the total; same-day visitors dropped by 10.2% to 1,115,553. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.3 days; the average stay of overnight visitors and same-day visitors was 2.2 days and 0.2 day respectively.
Visitors from Mainland China rose modestly by 0.3% year-on-year to 1,577,481 in September, of which those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme increased by 4.7% to 688,600. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (668,142), Hunan Province (71,912) and Fujian Province (63,347). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (55,075) and Taiwan (91,536) increased by 52.0% and 8.4% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (526,671) decreased by 3.2%. Long-haul visitors from the United States (14,816) and Canada (5,268) increased year-on-year, while those from Australia (7,968) and the United Kingdom (4,785) decreased.
Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land increased by 1.8% year-on-year to 1,379,116, attributable to a 22.9% growth in visitors arriving through the Checkpoint of Cotai (170,979); meanwhile, visitors entering through the Border Gate (1,206,649) dropped slightly by 0.6%. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 4.6% year-on-year to 861,422; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour (505,700) dropped by 6.7% while those at the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (355,722) rose by 4.5%. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 18.3% year-on-year to 186,548, with 185,675 arriving at the airport.
In the first three quarters of 2016, visitor arrivals totalled 22,868,794, up slightly by 0.1% year-on-year; overnight visitors rose by 8.5% to 11,407,491 while same-day visitors dropped by 7.2% to 11,461,303. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.2 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors rose by 0.2 day to 2.2 days while that of same-day visitors remained stable at 0.2 day. Visitors from Mainland China (15,137,496) and Hong Kong (4,795,478) decreased by 0.5% and 2.6% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (477,454) and Taiwan (809,278) increased by 16.3% and 10.1%. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year growth.