Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in November 2016 were similar over the same month of 2015, at 2,588,645, including 109 visitors travelling under the “cross-border yacht sailing scheme” which became effective as from 23rd November. Compared to the previous month, visitor arrivals in November decreased by 3.4%. Overnight visitors rose by 10.4% year-on-year to 1,374,752, accounting for 53.1% of the total, while same-day visitors dropped by 9.7% to 1,213,893. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors and same-day visitors was 2.1 days and 0.2 day respectively.

Visitors from Mainland China decreased by 1.2% year-on-year to 1,705,721 in November, of which those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme increased by 2.1% to 791,007. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (716,282), Hunan Province (80,061) and Fujian Province (68,247). Both Hong Kong (505,216) and Taiwan visitors (83,498) dropped by 1.4%, of which visitors from Taiwan recorded the first decline after 16 consecutive months of year-on-year increases. Visitors from the Republic of Korea (62,009) and Japan (34,142) surged by 34.6% and 25.4% respectively. Long-haul visitors from the United States (20,814), Canada (8,370) and the United Kingdom (6,420) increased year-on-year, while those from Australia (8,020) decreased.

Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land decreased by 3.1% year-on-year to 1,427,238; those arriving through the Border Gate (1,242,997) dropped by 5.0% while those through the Checkpoint of Cotai (182,650) rose by 12.5%. Visitor arrivals by sea increased by 2.3% year-on-year to 961,480; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour (576,332) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (385,148) grew by 0.6% and 12.0% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 13.3% year-on-year to 199,927, with 199,053 arriving at the airport.

In the first eleven months of 2016, visitor arrivals totalled 28,135,886, up slightly by 0.2% year-on-year; overnight visitors rose by 9.1% to 14,153,210 while same-day visitors dropped by 7.4% to 13,982,676. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors rose by 0.1 day to 2.2 days whereas that of same-day visitors remained stable at 0.2 day. Visitors from Mainland China (18,668,340) and Hong Kong (5,814,967) decreased by 0.5% and 2.2% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (591,581) and Taiwan (979,839) increased by 18.5% and 8.5%. Moreover, visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year growth.