Visitor arrivals jumped to 27 million last year
The number of visitor arrivals last year jumped to just under 27 million last year, up by 23 percent over the previous year, with visitors from the Mainland and Hong Kong accounting for 55 percent and 30 percent of the total, respectively.
According to figures released yesterday by the Statistics and Census, Mainland visitors who travelled to Macau under the Individual Visit Scheme totalled 7,165,203, up by 24 percent, visitor arrivals in package tours rose notably by 45 percent to 4,233,714.
Last year, the number of locals who travelled in package tours dropped by 22 percent over 2006 to 212,107 and those who travelled under individual arrangements using services provided by travel agencies increased by 4 per cent to 386,927.
The opening of three new hotels last year increased the availability of guest rooms by 24 percent to 16,148. While the number of hotel guests jumped by 23 percent year-on-year to 5,739,734, the average hotel occupancy rate rose by 5.0 percentage points to 77.2 percent. The average length of stay of hotel guests was 1.36 nights, an increase of 0.15 night compared with 2006.
Per-capita spending of visitors was 1,637 patacas last year, up by two per cent over the previous year, of which Mainland visitors had the highest per-capita spending of 3,080 patacas.
Per-capita non-shopping spending, excluding gaming expenses, of visitors amounted to 945 patacas, up by 10 percent over 2006, with that of Mainland visitors leading at 1,152 patacas. Expenses on accommodation and food and beverage took up 42 percent and 38 percent, respectively of the per-capita non-shopping spending.
Per-capita shopping spending of visitors posted a seven per cent decrease over 2006 to 692 patacas, with that of Mainland visitors leading at 1,928 patacas. Spending on local food products accounted for 29 percent of the total shopping spending, while clothing accounted for 16 percent and jewellery and watches for 16 percent too.
Per-diem spending of visitors went down by two percent over 2006 to 1,456 patacas, with visitors from the Mainland having the highest per-diem spending of 2,393 patacas.
In addition, the average length of stay of visitors remained as that of the previous year at 1.1 days, while the respective average for tourists and same-day visitors was 1.6 days and 0.2 days.
2008-04-25
