The Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) said in a statement yesterday that a new monthly record of 3.65 million visitor arrivals was set during the August summer holidays, representing a year-on-year increase of 13.3 percent and a rise of 0.8 percent from the same month in pre-pandemic 2019.
Last month saw 3,651,731 visitor arrivals, while in the same month of pre-pandemic 2019 the previous monthly record figure stood at 3,623,116.
The statement noted that same-day visitors (2.041 million) and overnight visitors (1.61 million) grew by 23.4 percent and 2.7 percent year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile, visitors’ average length of stay shortened by 0.1 day year on year to 1.1 days, with overnight visitors rising by 0.1 day to 2.3 days.
Mainland visitors rose by 18.5 percent year on year to 2.75 million in August, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS; 1.46 million) rising by 9.3 percent; visitors from the nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA; 1.34 million) rose by 21.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the statement said that visitors from China’s Taiwan region (73,629) rose by 26.7 percent year on year, while those from Hong Kong (663,449) dropped by 6.8 percent.
The number of mainland visitors in August showed a 4.0 percent increase compared with the same month in 2019, while the numbers of visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan rebounded to 99.6 percent and 77.3 percent of the corresponding levels in August 2019, according to the statement.
The statement added that last month foreign visitors increased by 25.5 percent year on year to 162,331, back to 75.3 percent of the August 2019 level.
The foreign visitor segment included 36,923 South Koreans, up by 61.4 percent, and 35,180 Philippine nationals, up by 31.7 percent year on year. Among Macau’s long-haul markets, US visitors rose by 18.2 percent to 10,295 last month.
Moreover, the statement said visitor arrivals by air (282,733) and by land (2.98 million) increased by 24.7 percent and 16 percent year-on-year respectively, while visitor arrivals by sea (382,864) decreased by 9.2 percent year on year.
In the first eight months of 2024, the number of visitor arrivals expanded by 32.7 percent year on year to 23.3 million, corresponding to 85.3 percent of the figure in the same period in 2019.
The statement added that the number of foreign visitors (1.5 million) returned to 68.9 percent of the level in the first eight months of 2019. Same-day visitors (12.5 million) and overnight visitors (10.8 million) grew by 46.3 percent and 19.8 percent year on year respectively.
This photo taken last month shows tourists crowding in the city’s main square, Largo do Senado. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
