Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,704,745 in May 2018, up by 5.2% year-on-year. As the number of visitors in April was higher due to the Easter holiday and the influx of Mainland arrivals on the eve of Labour Day, visitor arrivals in May dropped by 8.7% month-to-month. Meanwhile, overnight visitors (1,449,431) and same-day visitors (1,255,314) grew by 5.3% and 5.1% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors held steady year-on-year at 1.3 days, and that of overnight visitors and same-day visitors stayed at 2.2 days and 0.2 day respectively.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 9.3% year-on-year to 1,860,906 in May, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 8.2% to 853,979. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (746,045), Hunan Province (93,151) and Fujian Province (69,200). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (64,980), Hong Kong (484,256) and Taiwan (84,115) dropped by 10.0%, 2.1% and 5.6%. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (15,144), Australia (6,667), Canada (6,214) and the United Kingdom (4,722) also decreased.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land grew by 7.5% year-on-year to 1,538,364, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,337,136) increasing by 7.2%. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 2.5% year-on-year to 899,059; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (521,282) dropped by 6.5% while those arriving at the Taipa Ferry Terminal (377,777) rose by 3.6%. Visitor arrivals by air totalled 267,322, surging by 23.5% year-on-year.
In the first five months of 2018, visitor arrivals totalled 14,211,337, up by 7.8% year-on-year; overnight visitors (7,321,640) and same-day visitors (6,889,697) increased by 8.5% and 7.0% 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 (9,952,942) increased by 13.2% year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (366,165), Hong Kong (2,498,680) and Taiwan (432,050) dropped by 0.2%, 4.8% and 0.5% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (80,181) recorded year-on-year growth, whereas those from Australia (38,916), Canada (32,375) and the United Kingdom (24,164) declined.