Visitor arrivals grew 4.4% year-on-year and 22.7% sequentially in July, according to figures released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Overnight visitors (1,609,426) rose by 10.6% year-on-year while same-day visitors (1,308,527) dropped 2.3%. The average length of stay of visitors was 1.2 days, the same as in July 2016, with overnight visitors and same-day visitors staying an average of 2.1 days and 0.2 days respectively.
Mainland China visitation was strong, rising 9.6% year-on-year to 2,016,066, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (991,560) rising by 12.8%. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (839,456), Hunan Province (97,016) and Fujian Province (84,239). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (74,129) surged by 42.6% while those from Hong Kong (559,421) and Taiwan (102,990) dropped by 9.6% and 0.3% respectively. Moreover, visitors from the United States (16,169) and Canada (5,300) increased year-on-year whereas those from Australia (6,430) and the United Kingdom (4,594) decreased.
Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land (1,626,152) went up by 3.8% year-on-year, with those arriving through the Border Gate (1,396,035) rising by 3.1%. Visitor arrivals by sea (1,044,857) increased by 2.9% year-on-year; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (632,233) and the Taipa Ferry Terminal (412,624) went up by 4.0% and 1.4% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air (246,944) grew by 15.8% year-on-year, with those arriving at the airport (245,880) rising by 15.7%.
In the first seven months of 2017, visitor arrivals totaled 18,482,256, up 5.3% year-on-year. Overnight visitation (9,706,921) has risen by 12.6% while same-day visitors (8,775,335) dropped 1.8%. The average length of stay of visitors (1.2 days) held stable as in the same period of 2016; the average for overnight visitors (2.1 days) fell by 0.1 days and that for same-day visitors (0.2 day) remained unchanged.
Visitors from Mainland China (12,349,162) and the Republic of Korea (507,621) increased by 6.6% and 39.2% respectively. Number of visitors from Taiwan (623,475) was similar to the same period of last year while that from Hong Kong (3,675,007) edged down by 0.1%. Meanwhile, visitors from the United States (108,721) and Canada (42,571) registered year-on-year increase, whereas those from Australia (51,407) and the United Kingdom (33,105) decreased.
