Macau, May 25, 2006 – Information from Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals reached a total of 1,870,314 in April 2006, representing a remarkable year-on-year increase of 25.2%. Visitors from Mainland China and Hong Kong surged 19.2% and 41.7% respectively, whereas those form Taiwan, China dropped 4.0%. Meanwhile, same-day visitors accounted for 51.3% of the total arrivals, at 960,145.

Visitors came mainly from Mainland China (52.9% of the total), Hong Kong (33.3%) and Taiwan, China (6.8%). Among those from Mainland China, 451,048 (45.6%) arrived in Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.

In the first four months of 2006, visitor arrivals totalled 7,118,332, a 19.6% growth over the same period of last year. Visitors from Mainland China rose 19.7% to 3,967,829, which accounted for 55.7% of the total arrivals; those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China shared 31.2% and 6.4% respectively. Furthermore, same-day visitors made up 52.2% of the total, at 3,714,013.

Analyzed by mode of transport, visitors arrivals by sea jumped 21.1% to 2,578,482 in the first four months of 2006, with 2,445,996 arriving at the Outer Harbour (+18.0%); the majority of these visitors were from Hong Kong (58.7%) and Mainland China (30.5%). Visitor arrivals at the Inner Harbour leaped 134.2% to 132,486 while 58.7% were from Mainland China.

At the same time, the cumulative number of visitors arriving through the Border Gate grew 28.8% to 4,147,087. The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China (73.9%) and Hong Kong (18.5%).

In addition, visitor arrivals by air were 392,763, up 17.1% compared with the same period of last year, with 388,868 arrived at the Macao International Airport (+17.3%). Visitors from Taiwan, China (53.9%) and Mainland China (20.4%) were the major users of this access.