Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals increased by 7.3% year-on-year to 2,349,703 in March 2012; same-day visitors (1,274,063) accounted for 54.2% of the total. The average length of stay decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 0.9 day, with that of overnight visitors and same-day visitors being 1.8 days and 0.2 day respectively. Analyzed by place of residence, visitors from Mainland China increased by 15.4% year-on-year to 1,447,564 (61.6% of total), mostly from Guangdong Province (687,821), Fujian Province (81,680), Zhejiang Province (51,693) and Hunan (51,526). Mainland visitors travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) totalled 555,876, up by 10.9% year-on-year. The average length of stay of Mainland visitors was 1.0 day, with that of overnight visitors at 2.0 days. Visitors from Hong Kong (562,037); and Taiwan, China (80,911) decreased by 5.1% and 16.7% respectively year-on-year; however, those from Japan (39,475) and the Republic of Korea (33,965) increased by 15.6% and 36.0%. Besides, long-haul visitors from Europe (22,970) and Oceania (11,237) also recorded year-on-year increase of 9.4% and 16.2% respectively, while those from the Americas (25,871) decreased slightly by 0.5%. In the first quarter of 2012, visitor arrivals increased by 7.9% year-on-year to 6,942,320. Visitors from Mainland China (4,227,707), the Republic of Korea (125,582) and Japan (111,273) increased by 14.9%, 18.0% and 8.7% respectively; long-haul visitors also registered year-on-year increase. Visitors from Hong Kong (1,720,213) and Taiwan, China (249,814) decreased by 3.3% and 9.3% respectively. Same-day visitors accounted for 54.5% of the total at 3,781,289. In the first quarter of 2012, the average length of stay of visitors stood at 0.9 day, down by 0.2 day year-on-year.
