Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,733,311 in March 2018, up by 9.3% year-on-year but down by 11.0% month-to-month. Overnight visitors (1,451,263) and same-day visitors (1,282,048) grew by 8.6% and 10.1% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors held steady year-on-year at 1.2 days, with that of same-day visitors staying at 0.2 day while that of overnight visitors rising by 0.1 day to 2.2 days.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 9.8% year-on-year to 1,816,743 in March, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 15.5% to 856,200. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (743,112), Hunan Province (84,557) and Fujian Province (66,659). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (70,585), Hong Kong (538,223) and Taiwan (90,129) went up by 7.9%, 9.3% and 6.9% respectively. Moreover, visitors from the United States (17,769), Canada (7,597), Australia (7,356) and the United Kingdom (5,322) registered increases.
Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land grew by 8.9% year-on-year to 1,542,325, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,342,380) increasing by 8.5%. Visitor arrivals by sea rose by 4.8% year-on-year to 919,489; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (555,785) and Taipa Ferry Terminal (363,704) increased by 2.2% and 9.1% respectively year-on-year. Visitor arrivals by air totalled 271,497, surging by 30.6% year-on-year.
In the first quarter of 2018, visitor arrivals totalled 8,545,713, up by 8.6% year-on-year; overnight visitors (4,330,438) and same-day visitors (4,215,275) increased by 10.2% and 7.0% respectively year-on-year. The average length of stay of visitors held steady year-on-year at 1.2 days, with that of same-day visitors staying at 0.2 day and that of overnight visitors rising by 0.1 day to 2.2 days. Analysed by country/place, visitors from Mainland China (6,031,374) and the Republic of Korea (240,079) went up by 13.4% and 4.6% respectively year-on-year, while those from Hong Kong (1,478,549) and Taiwan (253,390) dropped by 2.8% and 0.9% respectively. Moreover, visitors from the United States (45,722), Australia (22,250), Canada (19,410) and the United Kingdom (13,277) recorded year-on-year growth.