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

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that in December 2005, visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 241,145, up 9.4% over December 2004. Visitors from Mainland China (199,017) and Hong Kong (11,601) increased 11.9% and 78.4% year-on-year; however, those from Taiwan, China (7,267) decreased 59.6%. In 2005, arrivals in package tours grew 7.1% over 2004 to 2,675,753. Number of Macao residents travelling in package tours totalled 27,087 in December 2005, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%. Mainland China, Taiwan, China and Thailand were the three more popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 74.8%, 6.5% and 4.8% of the total, respectively. In 2005, Macao residents travelling in package tours surged 39.1% compared with 2004. Meanwhile, 37,907 Macao residents travelled under own arrangements with the assistance of travel agencies, a leap of 64.1% over December 2004; Hong Kong (39.0%), Mainland China (28.5%) and Taiwan, China (15.2%) were the major destinations. In 2005, Macao residents travelling under such arrangements rose 16.5% compared with 2004. At the end of December 2005, there were 10,832 rooms available in hotels and similar establishments, an increase of 1,664 rooms (+18.2%) over December 2004. In December 2005, a total of 386,524 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments in Macao, up 11.1% over the same month of 2004. The average hotel occupancy rate fell by 2.4 percentage points to 76.1% compared with the same month of 2004; the highest average hotel occupancy rate was in 3-star hotels, at 84.2%. The average length of stay of hotel guests showed a decrease of 0.01 night over December 2004 to 1.14 nights. The majority of the guests came from Mainland China (60.1%), Hong Kong (25.3%) and Taiwan, China (2.7%). In 2005, number of hotel guests recorded a year-on-year growth of 4.2% to 4,121,088. In 2005, hotel guests (excluding Macao residents) accounted for 43.3% of the total number of tourists, which was lower than the 45.5% recorded in 2004.