Macau recorded over one million visitor arrivals during the ongoing Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday as of yesterday afternoon, according to official data released yesterday.
Macau recorded nearly 900,000 visitor arrivals during the first five CNY days, i.e., between Saturday and Wednesday, representing a daily average of some 180,000, according to data released by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) yesterday.
The mainland’s eight-day Spring Festival “Golden Week” holiday began on Saturday last week, the first day of the Year of the Dragon (“Lóng Nián” in Putonghua).
According to the MGTO data, Macau recorded 217,541 visitor arrivals on Monday, i.e., the third CNY day, the second highest single-day number on record.
An MGTO statement on Tuesday pointed out that Macau recorded its so far highest single-day number of visitor arrivals, 226,326, on February 7, 2019, i.e., the third CNY day of pre-pandemic 2019.
Consequently, the number of visitor arrivals recorded on this year’s third CNY day reached 96.1 percent of the one recorded on the third CNY day in pre-pandemic 2019.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case in January 2020. The pandemic severely affected the local tourism industry until December 2022.
Tomorrow is the last day of this year’s Spring Festival Golden Week holiday in the mainland.
CNY visitor arrivals exceeded 1-million benchmark yesterday afternoon
According to the MGTO data released yesterday, Macau recorded a total of 899,036 visitor arrivals between the first CNY day (Saturday) and the fifth CNY day (Wednesday), representing a daily average of 179,807.
In 2019, Macau recorded a daily average of 171,702 visitor arrivals during the Spring Festival Golden Week holiday, which lasted seven days, according to MGTO historical data.
Meanwhile, according to immigration statistics released by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday, Macau recorded 156,730 visitor arrivals between 00:00 a.m. and 5 p.m. yesterday, because of which the city had already recorded about 1.05 million visitor arrivals as of 5 p.m. yesterday during this year’s CNY holiday period, exceeding the one-million benchmark.
According to PSP immigration statistics released in the early hours of today, the city recorded 176,942 visitor arrivals yesterday, because of which a total of some 1.07 million visitor arrivals were recorded during the first six days of this year’s CNY holiday period.
Speaking to reporters last week, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said that she expected a daily average of 120,000 visitor arrivals during this year’s eight-day Spring Festival Golden Week holiday, thereby 960,000 in total over the period.
According to the MGTO data released yesterday, the daily number of visitor arrivals on the first five CNY days between Saturday and Wednesday stood at 121,356, 163,427, 217,541, 201,023, and 195,689 respectively.
Mainlanders & Hongkongers make up 94.5 pct
The 899,036 visitor arrivals recorded during the five days included 684,235 from the mainland and 165,491 from Hong Kong, accounting for 76.1 percent and 18.4 percent of the total respectively. Consequently, visitor arrivals from these two Chinese regions had so far accounted for 94.5 percent of the total.
During last year’s Spring Festival Golden Week holiday, which lasted seven days, Macau recorded around 451,000 visitor arrivals, representing a daily average of about 64,400, according to MGTO data released at that time.
Last year, the first post-pandemic year, Macau recorded 28.2 million visitor arrivals, or a daily average of 77,296, recovering to 71.6 percent of the record 39.4 million in pre-pandemic 2019, or a daily average of 107,962.
Senna Fernandes told reporters early this month that she expected Macau’s number of visitor arrivals to reach 33 million this year, or nearly 84 percent of the 2019 level.
Tourists throng Rua de S. Paulo in front of the UNESCO World Heritage-protected Ruins of St Paul’s one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions, on Saturday last week, the first day of the Year of the Dragon. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
