From 489,400 in 2009 to 875,800 in 2013 and 1.19 million in 2014. That’s by how much the number of visitor arrivals on package tours have increased over the last five Decembers. Official figures released on Friday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reveal that for the month of December alone, the number of visitors travelling to Macau on package tours increased significantly by 35.8 per cent over that of the previous year. Of these, 991,000 were visitors from mainland China, representing a 51.5 per cent jump year-on-year. Visitors from mainland China made up the majority of hotel guests at 63.2 per cent, followed by those from Hong Kong at 12.1 per cent, Taiwan at 3.2 per cent and South Korea at 1.9 per cent. For the whole twelve months of 2014, visitors travelling on package tour arrangements totalled 12.3 million, up 26.3 per cent. This also represents almost a quarter of all 31.5 million visitors Macau welcomed last year. Overall, the number of visitor arrivals on package tours from South Korea decreased by 2.6 per cent to 160,000 for the whole of last year, while those from Hong Kong decreased slightly by 0.5 per cent to 416,900. The overall number of tourists from Thailand travelling on package tours to Macau dropped most, by 24.3 per cent, to 145,400 for the whole of 2014. For the month of December alone, the number of visitor arrivals on package tours from Taiwan dropped 6.3 per cent, while those from Hong Kong dropped another 23.2 per cent, and South Korea dropped 8.6 per cent. Macau residents travelling outbound using the services of travel agencies increased by 5.7 per cent in December alone, with mainland China remaining the primary destination, receiving 87,900 visitors and representing a 21.6 per cent increase over that of the previous year. South Korea, however, saw a 17.9 per cent decrease in the number of visitor arrivals travelling under travel agency arrangements in December to 4,800. Upon analysing the whole year, this same number increased by 22.5 per cent to 56,300 over that of 2013. Outbound residents to Taiwan also registered a 20.5 per cent increase for the whole year to total 185,700 in 2014. The number of outbound residents choosing to travel to Thailand using travel agency services dropped significantly by 47.2 per cent for the whole year of 2014 to 40,800. This same number dropped by 21 per cent to 3,100 in December alone, versus the same period last year.
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