Macau's visitor arrivals dropped by 15.4 percent month-on-month to 694,430 in January, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced.
A statement released by the bureau yesterday attributed the decline to tightened border-control measures between Zhuhai and Macau last month in response to the COVID-19 situation in the Chinese mainland.
However, last month's number of visitor arrivals rose by 24.7 percent year-on-year.
Same-day visitors (450,428) accounted for 64.8 percent of all visitor arrivals. While same-day visitors rose by 56.5 percent year-on-year, overnight visitors (244,002) dropped by 9.3 percent.
Visitors' average length of stay declined by 0.3 day year-on-year to 1.3 days. On average, same-day visitors stayed for 3.4 days, up by 0.4 day year-on-year.
Visitors from the Greater Bay Area's (GBA) nine cities in Guangdong province totalled 412,174 in January, of whom 67.1 percent came from Zhuhai. The nine cities generated 59.3 percent of Macau's visitor arrivals last month.
Some 90.8 percent of all visitors arrived by land via the Barrier Gate and Hengqin checkpoints last month. Visitor arrivals by air and sea totalled 50,644 and 12,981 respectively.
Due to the COVID-19 threat, Hong Kong-Macau ferry services have been suspended since February 2020. Macau confirmed its first novel coronavirus case on January 22, 2020.
Macau's COVID-19 tally stands at 80. Its novel coronavirus death toll remains at zero.
Unlike Hong Kong, Macau has implemented strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures since January 2020.
In general, foreign nationals without the right of abode in Macau have been barred from entering Macau since March 2020.
