Visitor arrivals for April 2016

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals decreased by 3.0% year-on-year to 2,471,253 in April 2016 as the Easter holiday fell in April last year instead of March as in this year; meanwhile, visitor arrivals rose by 4.4% month-to-month. In April 2016, same-day visitors dropped by 10.1% year-on-year to 1,247,036, whereas overnight visitors rose by 5.6% to 1,224,217. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.2 day year-on-year to 1.1 days; the average stay of same-day visitors (0.2 day) held stable while that of overnight visitors (2.1 days) rose by 0.3 day. Visitors from Mainland China increased by 1.2% year-on-year to 1,651,662 in April 2016, of which those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme dropped by 2.3% to 694,604. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (666,166), Hunan Province (75,290) and Fujian Province (65,373). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (43,661), Thailand (25,321) and Taiwan (92,141) increased by 5.9%, 39.5% and 9.7% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Philippines (25,979) and Hong Kong (485,970) decreased by 0.7% and 19.4% respectively. Long-haul visitors from the United States (16,849) and the United Kingdom (5,672) decreased year-on-year, while those from Australia (8,796) and Canada (6,530) increased. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land increased by 4.3% year-on-year to 1,413,737; those arriving through the Border Gate (1,244,085) and the Checkpoint of Cotai (168,025) rose by 3.7% and 9.1% respectively. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 15.5% year-on-year to 862,683; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour (510,658) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (352,025) fell by 19.6% and 2.6% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 13.9% year-on-year to 194,833, with 194,590 arriving at the airport. In the first four months of 2016, visitor arrivals totalled 9,928,359, down marginally by 0.3% year-on-year; same-day visitors dropped by 6.9% to 5,195,625 while overnight visitors rose by 8.1% to 4,732,734. Visitors from Mainland China (6,593,631) and Hong Kong (2,045,651) decreased by 1.0% and 3.0% year-on-year, whereas those from the Republic of Korea (217,582) and Taiwan (343,015) increased by 3.7% and 11.1% respectively. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year increase.