Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 2.3% year-on-year to 498,972 in March 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (364,333); Taiwan, China (26,760); and the Republic of Korea (19,912) increased by 2.5%, 6.1% and 40.5% respectively. However, decrease was observed in the visitors coming from Japan (19,452), Hong Kong (19,125), Thailand (10,072) and Malaysia (9,305). In the first quarter of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to 1,407,876. In March 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 13.3% year-on-year to 16,042, attributable to the notable decrease in residents travelled in package tour to Japan (-83.1%). The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (82.5% of total); Thailand (3.8%); and Taiwan, China (3.8%). In the first quarter of 2011, outbound residents in package tours increased by 6.7% year-on-year to 54,998. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 18.9% year-on-year to 41,371; the main destinations were Mainland China (41.1% of total); Hong Kong (20.3%); Taiwan, China (19.8%); and Thailand (7.2%). In the first quarter of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 25.6% year-on-year to 126,540. At the end of March 2011, total number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses increased by 981 (+5.1%) year-on-year to 20,129 rooms, with that of 5-star hotels (12,035) accounting for 59.8% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 677,869 guests in March 2011, up by 6.0% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (55.1% of total) and Hong Kong (18.0%). The average length of stay of guests decreased by 0.01 night to 1.5 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 81.4%, up by 3.5 percentage points year-on-year; average occupancy rate of hotels stood at 82.0%, with 4-star hotels leading at 88.1% and the average for 5-star hotels reached 79.4%. Hotel guests increased by 1.9% year-on-year to 1,918,955 in the first quarter of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 81.0%, up by 1.9 percentage point compared with 79.1% from a year earlier. In the first quarter of 2011, visitor-guests of hotels and guest-houses accounted for 61.5% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.6% in the same period of 2010.
