Visitor Arrivals for March 2009

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the total number of visitor and non-resident arrivals was 2,552,109 in March 2009. Visitor arrivals totalled 1,884,175, down by 11.8% from March 2008. Analysed by place of residence, visitors from Mainland China were 977,479 (51.9% of total visitor arrivals), a decrease of 11.1% year-on-year, with 447,465 travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, down significantly by 32.9%. Visitors from Hong Kong (545,648) and Malaysia (36,465) dropped by 15.9% and 23.8% respectively; however, those from Taiwan, China (119,206) and Japan (35,543) increased by 5.5% and 23.1%. Same-day visitors (1,002,504) accounted for 53.2% of the total visitor arrivals, with 501,900 coming from Mainland China. The cumulative visitor arrivals totalled 5,454,170 in the first quarter of 2009, down by 9.6% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China (2,758,310), Hong Kong (1,732,726) and Taiwan, China (313,860) decreased by 14.2%, 1.6% and 3.2% respectively, while those from Japan (102,663) registered an increase of 17.0%. Same-day visitors accounted for 53.7% of the total visitor arrivals, at 2,930,026. Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea totalled 2,277,787 in the first quarter of 2009, similar to that of the same quarter of 2008 (2,277,002). Visitors arriving at the Outer Harbour registered a decrease of 26.8% to 1,510,463, but those arriving at the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa surged by 597.5% to 686,407. Visitor arrivals by land dropped by 16.5% year-on-year to 2,801,096 in the first three months of 2009; those arriving through the Border Gate totalled 2,594,791 and the majority were visitors from Mainland China (76.5%) and Hong Kong (15.4%). Visitor arrivals by air went down by 7.6% to 375,287 in the first quarter of 2009. Visitors arriving at the Macao International Airport decreased by 7.6% to 368,834, with the majority coming from Taiwan, China (38.9%), Mainland China (23.5%) and Thailand (8.9%).