Visitor arrivals for March 2015

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals decreased by 13.5% year-on-year to 2,270,585 in March 2015, the lowest number since October 2012; same-day visitors totalled 1,242,058 (54.7% of total), down by 10.9%. The average length of stay of visitors decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 0.9 day; overnight and same-day visitors had an average stay of 1.9 days and 0.2 day respectively. Analysed by place of residence, visitors from most countries or places recorded year-on-year decrease. Visitors from Mainland China decreased notably by 17.6% year-on-year to 1,457,641, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (639,835), Fujian Province (65,433) and Hunan Province (53,592). Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme dropped by 9.7%, at 666,319. Visitors from Hong Kong (509,699), Taiwan (73,649) and Japan (28,459) decreased by 2.4%, 4.7% and 6.0% respectively year-on-year, whilst visitors from the Republic of Korea (43,613) saw the only increase of 7.4%. Long-haul visitors from the United States (15,230), Australia (7,405), Canada (6,446) and the United Kingdom (5,300) registered year-on-year decline. Regarding mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land totalled 1,245,657, down by 12.4% year-on-year; visitors entering through the Border Gate accounted for 88.9% of the total, at 1,106,957, down by 13.4%, while those arriving via the Checkpoint of Cotai dropped by 2.4% to 136,683. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 17.2% year-on-year to 859,501, of which visitors entering via the Outer Harbour (532,130) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (306,340) dropped by 15.5% and 17.1% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air decreased slightly by 0.3% year-on-year to 165,427, with 164,606 entering via the airport, up by 0.6% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2015, visitor arrivals totalled 7,412,221, down by 3.6% year-on-year, with same-day visitors increasing by 1.7% to 4,193,274 (56.6% of total). Visitors from Mainland China (5,025,943), Hong Kong (1,505,695) and Taiwan (224,808) dropped by 2.9%, 4.0% and 1.5% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (168,644) increased by 10.8%. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom recorded year-on-year decrease.