Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitors on package tours totalled 917,000 in December 2018, up by 2.3% month-to-month and 1.6% year-on-year. Package tour visitors from the Republic of Korea (61,000) and Taiwan (62,000) surged by 39.0% and 23.4% respectively year-on-year, whereas those from Mainland China (733,000) decreased by 1.2%. For the whole year of 2018, visitors on package tours totalled 9,096,000, up by 5.5% year-on-year, with those from Mainland China (7,103,000), the Republic of Korea (616,000) and Taiwan (696,000) recording increases of 2.6%, 28.3% and 53.8% respectively.
Outbound residents using services of travel agencies grew by 13.4% year-on-year to 148,000; number of residents travelling on package tours fell by 8.0% to 50,000. In 2018, outbound residents using services of travel agencies totalled 1,579,000, up by 13.5% year-on-year; number of residents travelling on package tours decreased by 6.1% to 527,000, with those visiting Mainland China rising by 2.4% to 385,000.
There were 116 hotels & guesthouses operating at the end of December, an increase of 5 year-on-year. Number of guest rooms grew by 5.8% year-on-year to 39,000, and 5-star hotels provided 25,000 rooms (63.1% of total), up by 9.6%.
Number of guests of hotels & guesthouses in December 2018 rose by 4.8% year-on-year to 1,263,000. Guests coming from Mainland China (863,000) increased by 8.2%, whereas those from the Republic of Korea (42,000), Hong Kong (136,000) and Taiwan (38,000) decreased. The average occupancy rate of hotels & guesthouses went up by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to 94.7%, and the average length of stay of guests held stable at 1.4 nights.
For the whole year of 2018, guests of hotels & guesthouses reached 14,107,000, up by 7.2% year-on-year. Guests coming from Mainland China rose by 12.5% to 9,717,000, whereas those from the Republic of Korea (484,000), Hong Kong (1,515,000) and Taiwan (477,000) dropped by 3.4%, 5.9% and 3.2% respectively. The average occupancy rate of hotels & guesthouses went up by 3.9 percentage points year-on-year to 91.1%, with 5-star hotels leading at 92.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points. The average length of stay of guests held steady year-on-year at 1.5 nights.