Results of the Package Tours and Hotel Occupancy Rate for June 2005

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that in June 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 214,932, up 14.3% over June 2004. Visitors from Mainland China (167,430) increased 8.7% year-on-year; visitors from Taiwan, China (22,901) jumped 88.5% and those from Hong Kong (6,299) dropped 50.7%. In the first half of 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours grew 6.9% over the same period of 2004 to 1,237,100. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 28,206 in June 2005, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%. Mainland China, Thailand and Taiwan, China were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 79.1%, 4.6% and 3.5% of the total respectively. In the first half of 2005, Macao residents travelling in package tours surged 51.6% compared with the same period of 2004. Meanwhile, 27,224 Macao residents travelled under own arrangements with the assistance of travel agencies, an increase of 3.0% over June 2004; Mainland China (40.0%), Hong Kong (20.1%) and Taiwan, China (18.5%) were the major destinations. In the first half of 2005, Macao residents travelling under such arrangements decreased slightly by 0.5% compared with the same period of 2004. At the end of June 2005, there were 10,571 rooms available in hotels and similar establishments, an increase of 1,271 rooms (13.7%) over June 2004. In June 2005, a total of 335,215 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments in Macao, a growth of 5.3% over June 2004. The average hotel occupancy rate fell 7.3 percentage points to 67.7% compared with the same month of 2004. The highest occupancy rate was in 3-star hotels, at 78.3%. The average length of stay of hotel guests dropped 0.06 night over June 2004 to 1.14 nights. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (58.0%), Hong Kong (26.8%) and Taiwan, China (3.5%). In the first half of 2005, number of hotel guests showed a year-on-year increase of 1.6% to 1,904,927. In the first half of 2005, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 42.4% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 46.5% recorded in the same period of 2004.