With open arms

The MSAR recorded 2.5 million visitor arrivals during the month of March, a jump of 5.7 per cent year-on-year, attributable to the increasing number of visitors from Mainland China, in addition to surging numbers of travellers from East Asia.
According to the latest official data released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), more visitors chose to remain overnight in the territory during their stay last month, with the total number of overnight visitors reaching 1.33 million, an increase of 13.9 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the number of same-day visitors fell by 2.4 per cent year-on-year to 1.16 million.
By origin, visitors from Mainland China amounted to 1.65 million, rising by 11.5 per cent year-on-year and accounting for some 66.4 per cent of the total. In particular, those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme jumped by 18.4 per cent year-on-year to 741,199.
According to the DSEC, the majority of the mainland tourists were from Guangdong Province, amounting to 668,681. Those from Hunan Province and Fujian Province, meanwhile, totalled 77,639 and 66,037, respectively.

Korean & Japanese visitors soar
Meanwhile, the number of visitors to the MSAR from South Korea surged to 65,393, up by 56.9 per cent year-on-year, while those from Japan also rose significantly by 19.2 per cent year-on-year to 33,158 in the month.
Visitor arrivals from Taiwan also registered a year-on-year growth of 7.5 per cent to 84,347 but those from Hong Kong dropped by 12.6 per cent year-on-year to 492,215.
In terms of long-haul visitors, those from Australia and the United Kingdom plunged by 17.9 per cent and 12.5 per cent year-on-year, amounting to 6,720 and 4,798, respectively, whereas those from the United States and Canada rose 1.1 per cent and 4.5 per cent year-on-year to 16,203 and 7,519, respectively.

More flying to MSAR
During the month, there was a notable increase in the number of visitors travelling to the MSAR via air.
According to the official data, this type of visitor arrival grew by 18.6 per cent year-on-year to 207,856, with those arriving at the local international airport accounting for 206,790, an increase of 18.3 per cent year-on-year.
For the first quarter of this year, the MSAR received some 7.87 million visitors, an increase of 5.6 per cent year-on-year. Of the total, the number of overnight visitors climbed by 12.1 per cent year-on-year to 3.93 million, while same-day visitor arrivals fell by 0.2 per cent year-on-year.
A significant increase was again evident in the number of visitors from South Korea, which surged by 32 per cent year-on-year to 229,605 during the quarter, while those from Mainland China and Taiwan also posted an increase in numbers, up by 7.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent year-on-year, amounting to 5.32 million and 225,620, respectively.
Nevertheless, the number of visitors from Hong Kong decreased by 2.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.52 million in the same period.
While there were more visitors from the United States and Canada in the quarter, the city saw fewer visitors travelling from Australia and United Kingdom, DSEC said.