Macau, in the first quarter of this year, has become the most satisfactory destination for mainland outbound tourists for the first time according to the findings of a survey released by China Tourism Academy (CTA) yesterday.
CTA, a research institute directly under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT), released its findings in a statement on its official WeChat account yesterday. CTA also runs with an additional title Data Centre of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) issued a statement last night quoting the CTA findings.
Yesterday’s CTA statement listed Hong Kong and Macau’s yearly scores and rankings of the satisfaction levels as destinations for mainland outbound tourists between 2013 and 2023 except the three-year COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, as well as the results of this year’s first quarter.
The CTA statement did not mention the number of outbound tourist destinations covered by the CTA survey.
The CTA statement said that in the first quarter of this year, Macau became the most satisfactory destination for mainland outbound tourists for the first time.
According to the statement, Macau obtained a score of 83.49 out of 100 in the first quarter of 2024, ranking first, while Hong Kong obtained a score of 81.77, coming seventh.
Last year, Macau ranked third with a score of 84.09, while Hong Kong ranked fifth with a score of 82.86, according to the CTA statement.
Between 2013 and 2023, Hong Kong ranked first once, in 2017, when Macau was 10th, according to the statement.
MGTO response
Last night’s MGTO statement said that the Macau Government Tourism Office is glad to see the positive feedback from mainland tourists, who are generally satisfied with their travel experience in Macau.
The statement said that the achievement is the result of the concerted efforts of various segments of Macau’s civil society, adding that MGTO will continue to work with the city’s tourism industry with the aim of further improving tourists’ experience here, showcasing the charm of Macau’s tourism, and promoting the tourism and leisure industry’s high-quality and sustainable development.
The statement pledged that MGTO and the tourism industry will work together to make Macau’s “golden business card” as an international metropolis shine even brighter and to consolidate the city’s position as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, the statement said.
The statement said that MGTO will make good use of the central government’s various preferential measures for Macau, including the one in which 10 more mainland cities were added to its Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) this year.
After Shaanxi province’s capital of Xi’an and Shandong province’s port city of Qingdao were added to the Individual Visit Scheme on March 6 this year, eight more cities were newly added to the scheme on Monday, namely Shanxi province’s Taiyuan, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s Hohhot, Heilongjiang province’s Harbin, the Xizang Autonomous Region’s Lhasa, Gansu province’s Lanzhou, Qinghai province’s Xining, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s Yinchuan, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region’s Urumqi.
The programme, which was first rolled out in 2003, enables mainlanders to visit Hong Kong and Macau as an individual traveller.
After including the eight cities on Monday, 59 cities in the mainland are now covered by the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS).
This undated handout photo released by the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) last night shows patrons buying beef offal from a shop on Rua do Cunha in Taipa Village.
