Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 3.0% year-on-year to 486,382 in December 2009. Visitors from Japan (25,159) increased by 24.9%, while those from Mainland China (332,550); Hong Kong (25,931); and Taiwan, China (25,439) dropped by 4.0%, 20.3% and 31.4% respectively. For the whole year of 2009, visitor arrivals in package tours fell by 5.2% year-on-year to 4,648,186. In December 2009, the number of Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours rose by 11.2% year-on-year to 25,202, with Mainland China (73.3% of total) and Japan (7.6%) being the most popular tour itineraries. For 2009 as a whole, residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 10.0% year-on-year to 206,292. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies totalled 45,648, up notably by 38.0% year-on-year; the main destinations were Mainland China (34.1% of total); Hong Kong (33.5%); and Taiwan, China (15.2%). For the whole year of 2009, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements rose by 23.1% year-on-year to 464,300. At the end of December 2009, total number of available guest rooms of the hotel sector increased by 1,726 (+9.9%) year-on-year to 19,216 rooms. A total of 697,469 guests checked into hotels and guest-houses in December 2009, up by 13.0% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (47.9% of total) and Hong Kong (22.8%). The average hotel occupancy rate increased by 3.5 percentage points year-on-year to 82.4%, with 4-star hotels leading at 88.3%. The average length of stay of hotel guests increased by 0.1 night to 1.5 nights. For the whole year of 2009, total number of hotel guests increased by 2.7% to 6,714,413; the average hotel occupancy rate decreased by 2.9 percentage points from 2008 to 71.6%, while the average length of stay of hotel guests increased by 0.1 night to 1.5 nights. For the whole year of 2009, visitor-guests of hotels accounted for 61.5% of the total number of tourists, up from 58.4% in 2008.
