Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 3,403,503 in August 2018, up by 12.2% month-to-month and 18.7% year-on-year. Overnight visitors (1,800,246) and same-day visitors (1,603,257) grew by 16.3% and 21.6% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors dropped by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 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 25.3% year-on-year to 2,527,309 in August, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 31.0% to 1,313,144. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (1,092,209) and Hunan Province (128,301). Visitors from Hong Kong (556,372) and Taiwan (94,123) went up by 5.0% and 1.7% respectively year-on-year; however, those from the Republic of Korea (66,052) decreased by 12.6%. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (13,733), Australia (5,393), Canada (5,374) and the United Kingdom (4,614) registered year-on-year growth.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land grew by 24.2% year-on-year to 2,053,251, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,743,729) increasing by 23.4%. Visitor arrivals by sea rose by 8.6% year-on-year to 1,049,062; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (615,733) and the Taipa Ferry Terminal (433,329) rose by 3.4% and 16.9% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air totalled 301,190, up by 22.1% year-on-year.
In the first eight months of 2018, visitor arrivals totalled 23,251,990, up by 8.9% year-on-year; overnight visitors (12,204,221) and same-day visitors (11,047,769) grew by 8.4% and 9.4% 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 (16,400,886) and Taiwan (720,988) increased by 14.2% and 0.7% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (549,455) and Hong Kong (4,101,749) dropped by 5.8% and 2.4% respectively. Visitors from the United States (127,809), Australia (56,960) and Canada (47,470) recorded year-on-year increases, whereas those from the United Kingdom (37,099) saw decline.