Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong said yesterday that in the first five months of this year, the number of foreign visitor arrivals increased over 40 percent from the same period last year, returning to nearly 70 percent of the level recorded in the same period of pre-pandemic 2019.
Cheng said the numbers show that the Macau government’s promotional campaigns for attracting foreign tourists have made achievements.
Cheng said that the increase in the number of foreign visitor arrivals during the first five months of this year primarily resulted from an increase in the number of visitors from South Korea and those from Southeast Asian countries.
Cheng made the remarks while speaking to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a meeting of the three-day Asian IR Expo at The Venetian Macao in Cotai, which started on Tuesday and ended yesterday.
Cheng also said that during the first five months of this year, the number of visitor arrivals from the three Chinese regions of the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan returned to between 80 and 90 percent of the level recorded in the same period of 2019.
Cheng acknowledged that the ongoing recovery of the number of foreign visitors is still slower than the recovery of the number of visitors from the three Chinese regions.
Consequently, Cheng said, in the second half of this year MGTO will continue to place special emphasis on promoting the recovery of foreign visitor arrival numbers and strengthening its promotional campaigns for Macau’s non-gaming attractions.
Cheng also said that nowadays a rising number of visitors are younger and females, many of whom come to Macau for savouring the local food, attending concerts, or exploring different neighbourhoods across the city.
In pre-pandemic 2019, the number of South Korean visitors (743,026) to Macau was the highest among all foreign countries, while Philippine visitors (423,106) ranked second.
Philippine visitors became the top foreign visitor source to Macau last year, i.e., the first post-pandemic year, when Macau recorded 314,161 visitor arrivals from the Philippines, while 204,604 South Korean visitor arrivals were recorded, ranking second, according to historical data from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC).
South Korean visitors returned to the top foreign visitor source during the first four months of this year, during which Macau recorded 167,012 visitor arrivals from South Korea, while 150,476 visitor arrivals from the Philippines were recorded, ranking second, according to the DSEC data.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong talks to reporters at The Venetian Macao in Cotai yesterday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
