2009-05-19 Macao
Macao’s Statistics and Census Service indicated that per-capita spending of visitors decreased by 5% year-on-year to US$205 in the first quarter of 2009. Analyzed by place of residence, per-capita spending of Mainland visitors took the lead, at US$494, up 15.1 percent year-on-year. Per-capita spending of same-day visitors dropped 15% to US$61.
2009-05-14 Macao
Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that Macao registered 551,010 visitor arrivals in package tours in March 2009, up by 30.9 percent from a year earlier. Visitors from Mainland China (437,565) and Taiwan (26,650) increased substantially by 43.5 percent and 39.4 percent year-on-year, and those from Japan (17,687), Thailand (12,248) and Malaysia (11,772) also rose by 17.7 percent, 19.1 percent and 16.7 percent respectively; however, visitors from Hong Kong (19,945) decreased by 16.3 percent. In the first quarter of 2009, visitor arrivals in package tours grew by 14.3 percent over the same period of 2008 to 1,368,556. In the first quarter of 2009, visitor-guests of hotels accounted for 61.9 percent of the total number of tourists, up from 55.2 percent in the corresponding period of 2008.
2009-04-30 Hong Kong
According to a recent survey by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which covers more than 2,600 local consumers and visitor arrivals from mainland and other regions, only less than 10 percent of local consumers think they have sound finance, which led to lower consumption. However, the consumption expenditure of visitor arrivals from mainland increased 44 percent on a per-purchase basis than that of the previous survey.
2009-04-27 Macao
According to the Macao Statistics and Census Service, the total number of visitor and non-resident arrivals was 2,552,109 in March 2009. Visitor arrivals totalled 1,884,175, down 11.8 per cent from a year earlier. Visitors from Mainland China were 977,479, a decrease of 11.1 per cent year-on-year, with 447,465 travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, down significantly by 32.9 per cent. Visitors from Hong Kong (545,648) and Malaysia (36,465) dropped 15.9 per cent and 23.8 per cent respectively. The cumulative visitor arrivals totalled 5,454,170 in the first quarter of 2009, down 9.6 per cent from the same period of last year.
2009-04-21 Macao
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Meeting 2009 opened on April 18 at the MGM Grand Macau. The two-day internal meetings of the association were participated by PATA 2008/2009 Chairman Janice Antonson, PATA 2009/2010 chairman Phornsiri Manoharn, PATA president and chief executive officer Gregory Duffell and Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) director Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, among more than 100 members. PATA invited around 20 speakers, among tourism industry personalities and academics to discuss problems and trends of Asia Pacific tourism industry development. The key guest speakers are General Manager of Visa China Sheng Li and Google Inc. vice president of sales for Greater China region John Liu.
2009-04-14 Hangzhou
Figures recently released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) show that the Total Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism in 2008 was nearly HK$159 billion (US$23.3 billion), an increase of 11.7 percent over 2007. The average per capita spending of overnight visitors reached HK$5,439 (approximately US$796), 6.2 percent higher than the 2007 figure, while that of same-day in-town visitors surged by 20.9 percent to HK$1,498 (approximately US$219). Commenting on the spending figures, HKTB Chairman James Tien cautioned that notwithstanding the double-digit increase achieved last year, the global financial downturn is affecting visitors’ spending. Starting from the second half of the year, visitors’ spending started to decrease, especially for those from the long-haul regions, according to Tien. Tien expects this trend to continue into 2009.
2009-04-07 Macao
Information from the Statistics and Census Service of Macao indicated that the arrivals of visitor and non-resident reached 30,185,740 in 2008, with visitor arrivals totalling 22,907,724. The majority of visitors came from Mainland China (11,595,130), Hong Kong (7,009,178), Taiwan, China (1,315,773), Malaysia (428,603) and Japan (366,920). Number of Mainland visitors travelling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme totalled 6,584,657, taking up 57 percent of the total Mainland visitors. Per-capita spending of visitors was US$219 in 2008, up by 6 percent over 2007, with Mainland visitors having the highest per-capita spending of US$452.
2009-04-01 Guangzhou
From today, Shenzhen residents can apply for year-round multiple-entry visas to Hong Kong. Around 2.3 million qualified Shenzhen residents are expected to benefit from the expanded individual travel program. In response to the new policy, a Shenzhen travel agency launched a tourism package in collaboration with Hong Kong Disneyland, under which visitors can have a one-day tour at Hong Kong Disneyland at a price of US$6.
2009-02-23 Hong Kong
Arrivals for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, also known as MICE visitors, to Hong Kong, dropped 10 per cent last year to 1.17 million, the Tourism Board said yesterday. The decline was attributable to visitors staying away because of difficulty in obtaining visas for the mainland ahead of the Olympics, and mainland travellers staying at home because of the snow storm in January, the Sichuan earthquake in May and the Games.
2009-02-18 Macao
Information from the Statistics and Census Service of Macao indicated that per-capita spending of visitors increased 4 per cent year-on-year to US$ 229 in the fourth quarter of 2008. Per-capita spending of Mainland visitors took the lead, at US$526 and that of Hong Kong visitors was US$150. Calculating based on the per-capita spending of visitors in the fourth quarter of 2008 as well as visitor numbers, spending of visitors in the city totaled US$6.6 billion for the whole year 2008.
