Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 5.0% year-on-year to 543,679 in April 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (408,461), Thailand (12,959) and Japan (9,233) decreased by 4.9%, 14.7% and 45.3% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Taiwan, China (27,491); Hong Kong (24,718) and Republic of Korea (18,546) increased by 11.9%, 9.4% and 23.5% respectively. In the first four months of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours decreased by 2.7% year-on-year to 1,951,555. In April 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours increased by 3.8% year-on-year to 18,619, with Mainland China (82.1% of total); Thailand (4.1%) and Taiwan, China (3.9%) being the most popular tour itineraries; however, outbound residents in package tour to Japan decreased substantially by 97.9%. At the same time, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased notably by 26.3% year-on-year to 46,275; the main destinations were Mainland China (37.7% of total); Hong Kong (24.3%); and Taiwan, China (22.8%). In the first four months of 2011, outbound residents in package tours (73,617) and those travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies (172,815) increased by 6.0% and 25.8% respectively year-on-year. At the end of April 2011, total number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses increased by 577 (+2.9%) year-on-year to 20,148 rooms, with that of 5-star hotels (12,041) accounting for 59.8% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 675,836 guests in April 2011, up by 1.7% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (53.4% of total) and Hong Kong (20.9%). The average length of stay of guests held stable at 1.4 nights, same as in April 2010. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 84.5%, up by 3.6 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels stood at 85.2%, with 4-star hotels leading at 89.6%, and the average for 5-star hotels was 83.6%. Hotel guests increased by 1.9% year-on-year to 2,594,832 in the first four months of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 81.9%, up by 2.3 percentage points compared with 79.6% a year earlier. In the first four months of 2011, visitor-guests of hotels and guest-houses accounted for 61.0% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.6% in the same period of 2010.
