The Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced in a statement yesterday that visitor arrivals increased by 9.5 percent year-on-year to 3.02 million in July, recovering 85.6 percent of the figure in the same month of pre-pandemic 2019.
The figure also represented an 18.4 percent rise month-on-month, the statement noted.
The statement said that same-day visitors (1.59 million) rose by 20.2 percent year-on-year while overnight visitors (1.42 million) dropped by 0.5 percent. The average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days, with overnight visitors rising by 0.1 day to 2.4 days.
The statement added that visitors from the mainland increased by 14.3 percent year-on-year to 2.18 million in July, with those travelling under the mainland authorities Individual Visit Scheme (1.10 million) rising by 1.4 percent. Visitors from nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area (996,061) increased by 15.1 percent, according to the statement.
Moreover, visitors from Hong Kong (589,026) decreased by 10.9 percent year-on-year, while those from Taiwan (75,783) rose by 29.5 percent, the statement said. The visitor numbers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan in July rebounded to 85 percent, 92.8 percent and 78.4 percent of the corresponding levels in the same month of 2019, according to the statement.
The statement noted that foreign visitors rose by 33.3 percent year-on-year to 172,983, back to 75.5 percent of the figure in the same month in 2019.
With respect to the Southeast Asian market, visitors from the Philippines (42,963), Malaysia (8,965) and Singapore (5,669) hiked by 38.2 percent, 31.4 percent and 13.3 percent year-on-year respectively, while those from Indonesia (13,570) and Thailand (8,294) dropped by 7.4 percent and 14 percent, according to the statement.
Moreover, visitors from South Korea (32,825) and Japan (8,778) leapt by 66.3 percent and 57.9 percent year-on-year respectively. Visitors from the US (14,869) also recorded an uplift of 52.7 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the number of visitor arrivals by air (277,698) and by land (2.41 million) grew by 24.5 percent and 11.4 percent year-on-year respectively, while visitor arrivals by sea (331,976) decreased by 10.8 percent year-on-year.
The statement added that visitor arrivals in the first seven months expanded by 37 percent year-on-year to 19.7 million, back to 82.9 percent of the level in the same period in 2019. Same-day visitors (10.4 million) and overnight visitors (9.25 million) respectively grew by 51.8 percent and 23.4 percent year-on-year.
Visitors walk by and take photos at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ruins of St. Paul’s landmark. – Photo taken recently by Rui Pastorin
