Same-day visitors represented 52% of the total at 3,074,811, with overnight visitors representing 48% of the total at 2,822,037. Both figures represented 85% year-on-year falls.

Visitors from mainland China decreased by 83%, with Individual Visit Scheme travellers (IVS) from mainland China falling 86% following its resumption in August.

Visitor numbers from Taiwan and Hong Kong, meanwhile, fell 90% and 89% respectively.

Analysed by checkpoint, visitor arrivals by land totalled 5,033,614, representing 85% of the total. DSEC reported that 436,936 and 426,298 arrived by air and sea respectively.

December 2020 was, however, the seventh consecutive month in which visitor numbers improved month-on-month, with the 659,407 visitors representing a 4% increase from November.

Despite the monthly rise, December’s total represented a year-on-year drop of 79%.

Of the 659,407 visitors, 390,300 stayed at least one night, while 269,107 were same-day visitors.

January’s figure of 2,850,465 was the highest monthly visitor total in 2020, while April was the lowest with 11,041.