Statistics from Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau for inbound tourists staying overnight in Beijing in August 2008, show that the number of inbound tourists to the city decreased by 7.2% year-on-year.

Beijing received a total of 389,000 inbound tourists that stayed overnight in the city this August, a decrease of 7.2% compared to the same period of 2007. Of these, the number of overseas tourists visiting Beijing was 356,000, a decrease of 4.1% year-on-year; 24,000 were from Hong Kong, down by 16.4% from the same period of last year; 1,000 from Macau, representing a growth rate of 113.5% from the same period in 2007; and 8,000 were from Taiwan, a decrease of 57.3% from the same period in 2007.

In August this year, star-grade hotels in Beijing hosted a total of 708,000 domestic tourists, a decrease of 41.7% year-on-year.

From the beginning of this year through the end of August, Beijing received a total of 2,535,000 inbound tourists staying overnight in the city, a decrease of 8.9% year-on-year. For the first eight months of 2008, the star-grade hotels in Beijing hosted 8,113,000, down by 3.8% annually.

(chinahospitalitynews.com, September 12, 2008)