Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 3,388,931 in March 2019, up by 24.0% year-on-year but down by 4.4% month-to-month. Overnight visitors (1,583,480) rose by 9.1% year-on-year, while same-day visitors (1,805,451) soared by 40.8%. The average length of stay of visitors held steady year-on-year at 1.2 days, with that of overnight visitors and same-day visitors remaining unchanged at 2.2 days and 0.2 day respectively.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 31.3% year-on-year to 2,384,653, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (1,062,111) rising by 24.0%. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (898,908) and Hunan Province (120,125). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (76,409), Hong Kong (601,344) and Taiwan (92,414) went up by 8.3%, 11.7% and 2.5% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, visitors from the cities in the Greater Bay Area grew by 16.6% year-on-year to 1,365,260, and 44.0% of them were from Hong Kong; among the nine Mainland cities in Guangdong Province, those coming from Zhuhai and Guangzhou totalled 227,315 (16.6%) and 155,093 (11.4%) respectively, representing increases of 47.5% and 11.0%.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land surged by 62.4% year-on-year to 2,504,850 in March, with 1,790,726 (+33.4%) arriving through the Border Gate and 504,370 via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Visitor arrivals by air grew by 15.2% year-on-year to 312,701, whereas those by sea decreased by 37.9% to 571,380.
In the first quarter of 2019, visitor arrivals reached 10,359,758, up by 21.2% year-on-year. Overnight visitors (4,735,026) and same-day visitors (5,624,732) rose by 9.3% and 33.4% respectively. The average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.1 days, with that of overnight visitors (2.2 days) and same-day visitors (0.2 day) remaining unchanged. Analysed by country/place, visitors from Mainland China (7,448,291) and Hong Kong (1,793,114) recorded respective growth of 23.5% and 21.3% year-on-year, and those from the Republic of Korea (262,051) and Taiwan (261,853) went up by 9.2% and 3.3% respectively. Visitors from the United States (50,206), Australia (23,965), Canada (20,830) and the United Kingdom (13,860) showed year-on-year increases.