Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals decreased by 4.7% year-on-year to 2,741,465 in January 2018, due mainly to the timing of the Lunar New Year which fell in January in 2017 but in February this year. Compared with December 2017, visitor arrivals went down by 10.2% month-to-month. Same-day visitors (1,258,358) dropped by 16.8% year-on-year while overnight visitors (1,483,107) increased by 8.8%. The average length of stay of visitors rose by 0.2 day year-on-year to 1.3 days, with that of overnight visitors and same-day visitors staying at 2.1 days and 0.2 day respectively.
Visitors from Mainland China decreased by 3.5% year-on-year to 1,927,642, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (896,088) dropping by 20.6%. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (760,037), Hunan Province (90,589) and Fujian Province (71,638). Visitors from Hong Kong (438,573) went down by 16.8%; meanwhile, visitors from the Republic of Korea rose by 20.2% year-on-year to 97,861, exceeding those from Taiwan (83,591) for the first time and making the Republic of Korea the third major visitor market. On the other hand, visitors from the United States (14,474), Canada (6,011) and the United Kingdom (3,812) registered decreases, whereas those from Australia (9,924) increased.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land dropped by 12.3% year-on-year to 1,577,333, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,366,899) decreasing by 10.5%. Visitor arrivals by sea went up by 4.5% year-on-year to 898,715; those disembarking at the Taipa Ferry Terminal (369,233) grew by 19.6%, whereas those arriving at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (529,482) dropped by 3.9%. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 22.0% year-on-year to 265,417, with those arriving at the airport (264,551) also rising by 22.0%.