Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 19.5% year-on-year to 790,996 in June 2013. Visitors arrivals in package tours mainly came from Mainland China (622,977), with 216,690 coming from Guangdong Province, followed by those from Taiwan, China (44,918); Hong Kong (32,202) and the Republic of Korea (25,886). In the first half year of 2013, visitors in package tours totalled 4,610,370, up by 12.9% year-on-year. Outbound residents using services of travel agencies increased by 9.4% year-on-year to 119,508 in June this year; those travelling in package tours totalled 47,533, with Mainland China, Thailand and Taiwan, China being the main destinations. In the first half year of 2013, outbound residents increased by 23.5% year-on-year to 716,601, of which 266,197 travelled in package tours. There were 99 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of June 2013, providing 28,082 rooms, up by 15.7% year-on-year; guest rooms of 5-star hotels accounted for 66.5% of the total. In June this year, guests checking into hotels and guesthouses rose by 16.8% year-on-year to 903,811; guests staying in 5-star hotels soared by 36.3%, at 552,850. The average length of stay of guests held stable from a year earlier, at 1.3 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses was 80.9%, up by 0.7 percentage points, with 3-star hotels leading at 83.9%. In the first half year of 2013, number of guests increased by 16.9% year-on-year to 5,233,519; the average occupancy rate stood at 79.6%, down by 2.0 percentage points. In the first half year of 2013, visitor-guests took up 71.9% of the total number of overnight visitors, higher than the 64.9% in the same period of 2012.
