Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that in March 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 216,093, down 17.9% over March 2004. Visitors from Mainland China (162,130) decreased 32.0% year-on-year while visitors from Taiwan, China (28,267) and Hong Kong (9,473) surged 132.3% and 46.1% respectively. In the first quarter of 2005, visitors arrived in Macao in package tours grew 9.8% over the same period of 2004 to 596,860. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 19,512 in March 2005, a year-on-year increase of 62.1%. Mainland China, Thailand and Taiwan, China were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 86.5%, 3.4% and 2.4% of the total respectively. In the first quarter of 2005, Macao residents travelling in package tours went up 59.0% compared with the same period of 2004. Meanwhile, 22,781 Macao residents travelled under own arrangements with the assistance of travel agencies, a slight increase of 1.2% over March 2004; Mainland China (40.3%), Taiwan, China (20.9%) and Hong Kong (16.9%) were the major destinations. In the first quarter of 2005, Macao residents travelling under such arrangements fell 10.5% compared with the same period of 2004. Subsequent to the operation of several new hotels, number of rooms available in hotels and similar establishments increased to 10,585 as at the end of March 2005, which corresponded to a significant growth of 13.8% over March 2004. In March 2005, a total of 318,745 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments, a decrease of 9.5% over March 2004. The average hotel occupancy rate fell 13.2 percentage points to 64.9% compared with the same month of 2004. The highest occupancy rate was in 3-star hotels, at 74.2%. The average length of stay of hotel guests was the same as March 2004, with 1.19 nights. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (54.3%), Hong Kong (29.8%) and Taiwan, China (3.1%). In the first quarter of 2005, number of hotel guests showed a marginal increase of 0.1% to 909,768 over the same period of 2004. In the first quarter of 2005, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 40.4% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 46.1% recorded in the same period of 2004.
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