Information from Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 1,748,823 in September 2006, representing a year-on-year increase of 20.3%. Visitors from Mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan region, China grew 15.1%, 29.4% and 1.4% respectively. Meanwhile, same-day visitors accounted for 51.4% of the total arrivals, at 898,798.

Visitors came mainly from Mainland China (52.5% of the total), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (33.1%) and Taiwan region, China (7.0%). Among those from Mainland China, 427,097 (46.6%) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.

In the first nine months of 2006, visitor arrivals reached 15,895,794, a 15.4% growth over the same period of last year. Visitors from Mainland China rose 14.0% to 8,712,131, which accounted for 54.8% of the total arrivals; those from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan region, China shared 31.4% and 6.8% respectively. Furthermore, same-day visitors made up 51.6% of the total, at 8,209,865.

Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea increased 13.6% to 5,597,020 in the first nine months of 2006, with 5,322,957 arriving at the Outer Harbour; the majority of these visitors were from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (59.6%) and Mainland China (28.5%). Visitor arrivals at the Inner Harbour leaped 111.8% to 274,063.

At the same time, the cumulative number of visitors arriving through the Border Gate soared 16.5% to 9,399,242. The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China (73.0%) and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (19.0%).

In addition, visitor arrivals by air were 899,532, up 15.1% compared with the same period of last year, with 892,468 arriving at the Macao International Airport (+15.4%). Visitors from Taiwan region, China (55.2%) and Mainland China (20.1%) were the major users of this access.