MACAO - Macao's visitor arrivals in package tours in June increased by 20.9 percent year on year to 591,164, overtaking the short-lived record of about 582,600 that was set in May, the Macao Daily Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted latest figures released by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) as saying that visitors from the Chinese mainland totaled 435,493, an increase of 29 percent, those from Taiwan rose 50.1 percent to 33,257 and visitors from the Republic of Korea up 65.5 percent to 19,493.

However, visitors from Hong Kong decreased by 6.5 percent to 21,842 and those from Japan totaled 17,670, down 21.8 percent.

In the first half of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 2 percent year on year to 3,125,315, according to the DSEC.

Meanwhile, Macao residents traveling outbound in package tours decreased by 15.6 percent year on year to 18,565 in June, with the Chinese mainland (67.7 percent of the total), Thailand (8.8 percent of the total) and the Republic of Korea (6.1 percent) being the most popular destinations.