Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 11.7% year-on-year to 669,460 in May 2012. Visitors from Mainland China (465,923) went up by 4.9%, with 166,292 coming from Guangdong Province; besides, those from Taiwan, China (52,839); Hong Kong (33,485); and the Republic of Korea (24,941) increased by 63.2%, 28.0% and 18.5% respectively. In the first five months of 2012, visitors in package tours totalled 3,420,786, up by 30.0% year-on-year to account for 29.8% of the total visitor arrivals, higher than the 23.8% in the same period of 2011.
Outbound residents in package tours surged by 93.3% year-on-year to 34,395 in May 2012. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (70.8% of total) and the Republic of Korea (12.3%), with 14,482 travelling to Guangdong Province. In the first five months of 2012, residents travelling in package tours totalled 139,096, up by 47.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 23.3% year-on-year to 59,875 in May 2012; the main destinations were Mainland China (45.8% of total); Hong Kong (23.4%); and Taiwan, China (18.0%). In the first five months of 2012, residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 48.1% year-on-year to 331,819.
There were 24,117 guest rooms available at the 97 hotels and guest-houses at end-May 2012, an increase of 2,599 rooms (+12.1%) year-on-year, with those of the 5-star hotels accounting for 61.1% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 754,375 guests in May 2012, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year; the average length of stay decreased by 0.11 night to 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 78.1%, down by 3.8 percentage points year-on-year; average occupancy rate of the hotels was 78.6%, with 4-star hotels leading at 81.3%. Number of guests increased by 12.7% year-on-year to 3,702,740 in the first five months of 2012; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 81.9%, similar to that of the same period in 2011. From January to May 2012, visitor-guests accounted for 64.6% of the total number of overnight visitors, higher than the 61.3% in the same period of 2011.
