Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours soared by 60.9% year-on-year to 637,345 in October 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (460,660); Taiwan, China (43,594); Hong Kong (31,189) and the Republic of Korea (24,166) surged by 67.7%, 97.7%, 46.5% and 104.9% respectively. In the first ten months of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 20.4% year-on-year to 5,744,610. In October 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 7.1% year-on-year to 17,844. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (75.6% of total); Taiwan, China (5.0%); and Thailand (4.1%). In the first ten months of 2011, outbound residents in package tours decreased by 5.6% year-on-year to 194,510. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 29.3% year-on-year to 59,925; the main destinations were Mainland China (53.9% of total); Hong Kong (17.8%); and Taiwan, China (14.4%). In the first ten months of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 27.9% year-on-year to 523,130. At the end of October 2011, number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses totalled 22,330, up by 2,481 rooms (+12.5%) year-on-year, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 63.7% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 714,094 guests in October 2011, up by 13.3% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (56.9% of total) and Hong Kong (16.3%). The average length of stay of guests increased by 0.06 night to 1.6 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 81.5%, up by 3.0 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels was 82.1%, with 3-star hotels leading at 85.8%. Number of guests increased by 10.1% year-on-year to 7,011,323 in the first ten months of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 83.0%, up by 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier. In the first ten months of 2011, visitor-guests accounted for 61.6% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.6% in the same period of 2010.
