Number of Macao's visitor arrivals in package tours in June 2009 declined by 46.1 percent over the same period of last year, according to the figures released on Wednesday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Visitors from the Chinese mainland (108,662), Hong Kong SAR (15, 422), China's Taiwan (12,630) and Japan (9,322) decreased substantially by 51.1 percent, 31.7 percent, 23.2 percent and 44.6 percent respectively, the DSEC figures indicated.

In the first half of this year, visitor arrivals in package tours dropped by 5.7 percent year-on-year to 2.27 million, the DSEC said.

Meanwhile, the number of Macao residents traveling outbound in package tours also decreased significantly by 40 percent year-on- year to just 12,105 in June, and the half-year figure down 14 percent year-on-year to 91,638, according to the DSEC.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2009)