Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours soared by 60.6% year-on-year to 597,903 in September 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (422,292); Taiwan, China (45,138); Hong Kong (32,106) and the Republic of Korea (26,206) surged by 88.9%, 54.7%, 38.7% and 78.7% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Japan (19,085) decreased by 31.7%. In the first three quarters of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 16.8% year-on-year to 5,107,265. In September 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 25.2% year-on-year to 15,031. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (76.3% of total), Thailand (5.4%) and the Republic of Korea (5.1%). In the first three quarters of 2011, outbound residents in package tours decreased by 5.4% year-on-year to 176,666. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies surged by 35.9% year-on-year to 60,979; the main destinations were Mainland China (54.3% of total); Hong Kong (16.3%); and Taiwan, China (13.7%). In the first three quarters of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 27.8% year-on-year to 463,205. At the end of September 2011, number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses totalled 22,407, up by 2,561 rooms (+12.9%) year-on-year, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 63.8% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 701,708 guests in September 2011, up by 19.1% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (54.1% of total) and Hong Kong (19.0%). The average length of stay decreased by 0.04 night to 1.5 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 79.7%, up by 5.6 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels was 80.2%, with 4-star hotels leading at 85.3%. Number of guests increased by 9.7% year-on-year to 6,297,229 in the first three quarters of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 83.2%, up by 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier. In the first three quarters of 2011, visitor-guests accounted for 61.5% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.5% in the same period of 2010.
