Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitors in package tours soared by 70.3% year-on-year to 767,208 in November 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (574,212); Taiwan, China (45,522); Hong Kong (35,659) and the Republic of Korea (27,453) surged by 79.0%, 131.9%, 64.5% and 103.3% respectively. In the first eleven months of 2011, visitors in package tours increased by 24.7% year-on-year to 6,511,818, surpassing the annual total of 5,745,222 in 2010. In November 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours increased by 10.8% year-on-year to 20,812. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (80.5% of total) and the Republic of Korea (5.4%). In the first eleven months of 2011, outbound residents in package tours decreased by 4.2% year-on-year to 215,322. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 27.8% year-on-year to 58,166; the main destinations were Mainland China (52.7% of total); Hong Kong (18.3%); and Taiwan, China (15.0%). In the first eleven months of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 27.9% year-on-year to 581,296. At the end of November 2011, number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses totalled 22,335, up by 2,276 rooms (+11.3%) year-on-year, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 63.5% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 780,641 guests in November 2011, up by 18.7% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (55.4% of total) and Hong Kong (17.0%). The average length of stay of guests held stable at 1.5 nights, same as in November 2010. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 88.4%, up by 5.7 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels was 89.1%, with 4-star hotels leading at 93.8%. Number of guests increased by 10.9% year-on-year to 7,791,964 in the first eleven months of 2011, higher than the 7,755,214 for the whole year of 2010; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 83.6%, up by 4.5 percentage points year-on-year. In the first eleven months of 2011, visitor-guests accounted for 62.1% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 61.0% in the same period of 2010.
