Macau logged a record 3.47 million visitor arrivals last month, a year-on-year increase of 10.8 percent, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday. According to DSEC data, last month’s figure was the highest ever recorded in October.
Additionally, the first 10 months of this year recorded the second highest number of visitor arrivals—33.14 million—ever in the January-October period. Last month, same-day visitors (2.10 million) and overnight visitors (1.36 million) rose by 17.6 percent and 1.7 percent year-on-year respectively. Same-day visitors accounted for 60.5 percent of the total number of visitors. On average, overnight visitors stayed for 2.4 days.
Visitors from the Chinese mainland increased by 12.0 percent to 2.53 million in October, accounting for nearly 73 percent of all visitors. Visitors from Taiwan (92,165) increased by 34.2 percent, while those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) dropped by 1.0 percent. Some 1.31 million visitors came from the nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), marking a 13.8 percent year-on-year growth, driven by a 50.9 percent leap in the number of visitors from the adjacent Zhuhai City.
Foreign visitors rose by 22.9 percent to 260,944 in October, accounting for 7.5 percent of the total number of visitor arrivals. South Korea (52,057; +10.6 percent), the Philippines (26,299; +15.3 percent), and Thailand (26,299; +118.5 percent) made up Macau’s top three segments of foreign visitors.
According to tour guides, the Chinese mainland's National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival "Golden Week" holiday, which occurred between October 1 and 8, resulted in an upsurge in visitors to Macau in the first two weeks of last month.
On average, Macau logged 112,015 visitor arrivals last month.
Meanwhile, the local government announced yesterday that the 15th National Games, co-hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau from November 9 to yesterday, attracted two million visitors to Macau. During the Games, Macau hosted 479 events involving 1,800 coaches, athletes, and officials, alongside 3,500 volunteers, Secretary for Social Welfare and Culture Wallis O Lam announced at a press conference in Shenzhen, where the Games’ Closing Ceremony was held yesterday.
At the end of the third quarter, Macau’s population stood at 686,600, according to official demographics.
Caption: Local and tourists visit the 25th Macau Food Festival outside Macau Tower in Sai Van ("West Bay") last night. The culinary festival, which opened on November 14, concluded next Sunday. - Photo: Carl Leong
