Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 8.6% year-on-year to 853,991 in November 2012. Visitors from Mainland China (642,971) increased by 9.4%, with 238,482 coming from Guangdong Province; besides, those from Taiwan, China (59,822) and the Republic of Korea (43,825) increased by 26.4% and 59.6% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Hong Kong (27,622) decreased by 25.2%. In the first eleven months of 2012, visitors in package tours (8,235,050) increased by 22.5% year-on-year to account for 32.2% of the total visitor arrivals. Outbound residents in package tours soared by 109.0% year-on-year to 45,051 in November 2012. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (76.1% of total); the Republic of Korea (5.7%); and Taiwan, China (4.9%), with 22,825 travelling to Guangdong Province. In the first eleven months of 2012, residents travelling in package tours totalled 381,836, up by 68.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 26.5% year-on-year to 74,297 in November 2012. The main destinations were Mainland China (45.1% of total); Hong Kong (28.0%); and Taiwan, China (14.5%). In the first eleven months of 2012, residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 32.0% year-on-year to 780,758. There were 100 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of November 2012, providing 26,055 rooms, an increase of 3,722 (+16.7%) year-on-year, of which guest rooms of 5-star hotels accounted for 63.8%. In November 2012, the hotels and guesthouses received 839,080 guests, up by 7.5% year-on-year; the average length of stay decreased by 0.07 night to 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 86.7%, down by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year; occupancy rate of the hotels was 87.3%, with 4-star hotels leading at 90.1%. Number of guests increased by 10.9% year-on-year to 8,642,379 in the first eleven months of 2012; occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses stood at 82.8%, down by 0.8 percentage point year-on-year. From January to November 2012, visitor-guests accounted for 65.2% of the total number of overnight visitors, higher than the 62.1% in the same period of 2011.
