Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,561,274 in September 2018, up by 3.0% year-on-year but down by 24.7% month-to-month. Overnight visitors (1,408,326) and same-day visitors (1,152,948) grew by 1.9% and 4.4% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.4 days, with that of overnight visitors rising by 0.2 day to 2.4 days while that of same-day visitors staying at 0.2 day.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 5.7% year-on-year to 1,820,269 in September, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 10.3% to 788,426. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (719,062) and Hunan Province (91,921). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (58,246), Hong Kong (444,005) and Taiwan (82,999) dropped by 4.4%, 1.6% and 3.7% respectively. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (13,448) and the United Kingdom (4,108) registered year-on-year increases, whereas those from Australia (6,614) and Canada (4,326) decreased.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land grew by 9.6% year-on-year to 1,550,019, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,350,543) increasing by 8.8%. Visitor arrivals by sea dropped by 11.8% year-on-year to 757,946; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (447,919) and the Taipa Ferry Terminal (310,027) decreased by 15.9% and 5.0% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air totalled 253,309, up by 18.9% year-on-year.
In the first nine months of 2018, visitor arrivals totalled 25,813,264, up by 8.3% year-on-year; overnight visitors (13,612,547) and same-day visitors (12,200,717) grew by 7.7% and 9.0% respectively. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.3 days, with that of overnight visitors (2.2 days) rising by 0.1 day and that of same-day visitors (0.2 day) remaining unchanged. Analysed by country/place, visitors from Mainland China (18,221,155) and Taiwan (803,987) rose by 13.3% and 0.2% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (607,701) and Hong Kong (4,545,754) dropped by 5.7% and 2.4% respectively. Visitors from the United States (141,257) and Australia (63,574) recorded year-on-year growth, whereas those from Canada (51,796) and the United Kingdom (41,207) saw decreases.