Visitor arrivals for January 2016

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,445,876 in January 2016, down slightly by 0.8% year-on-year and down by 7.1% month-to-month. Overnight visitors rose by 5.3% year-on-year to 1,145,902; same-day visitors dropped by 5.6%, at 1,299,974. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.3 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of same-day visitors (0.2 day) held stable while that of overnight visitors (2.2 days) rose by 0.3 day. Visitors from Mainland China edged down by 0.7% year-on-year to 1,658,634 in January 2016, of which overnight visitors (757,426) rose by 3.1%. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (764,835), up by 8.2%, followed by Fujian Province (67,210) and Hunan Province (60,618). Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme increased by 2.6% to 784,958, with 73.6% coming from Guangdong Province. Hong Kong visitors (448,193) registered a decrease of 5.3%, and yet overnight visitors (207,271) rose by 9.3%. Visitors from the Republic of Korea (69,233) and Taiwan (85,939) increased by 0.6% and 11.6% respectively. Long-haul visitors from the United States (14,009) and the United Kingdom (4,003) increased by 3.5% and 4.5% year-on-year, while those from Australia (9,425) declined by 6.6%. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land increased by 8.6% year-on-year to 1,501,115, with those arriving via the Border Gate rising by 9.3% to 1,327,737 (88.5% of total). Visitor arrivals by sea dropped by 17.4% year-on-year to 753,640; those arriving via the Outer Harbour (473,611) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (267,918) recorded decrease. Meanwhile, visitors arriving via the Inner Harbour (12,111) decreased significantly by 60.3% due to the suspension of ferry services at this terminal starting from 17 January. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 12.1% year-on-year to 191,121, and those entering via the airport (190,411) accounted for 99.6%.