Macau’s visitor arrivals increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year to 4.478 million last month, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced today.
According to a DSEC statement, same-day visitors (2.853 million) rose by 11.7 percent year-on-year while overnight visitors (1.625 million) dropped by 2.4 percent.
Visitors’ average length of stay shortened by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.0 day, with that of overnight visitors (2.3 days, or 55 hours and 12 minutes) remaining unchanged.
On average, Macau recorded 144,454 visitor arrivals a day in August.
Visitors from the Chinese mainland increased by 9.3 percent year-on-year to 3,561 million in August, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (2.019 million) rising by 12.7 percent. Visitors from China’s Taiwan region (101,282) went up by 13.7 percent year-on-year, while those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (643,445) dropped by 5.6 percent.
Mainland Chinese accounted for 79.5 percent of the total number of visitor arrivals in August.
International visitors totalled 171,679 in August, down by 9.8 percent year-on-year. Visitors from the Philippines (31,282) and Indonesia (11,106) fell by 18.5 percent and 16.9 percent respectively, while those from Malaysia (8,161) rose by 2.1 percent. Visitors from India (6,430) dropped by 17.6 percent year-on-year.
Foreign nationals accounted for 3.8 percent of all visitor arrivals in August.
Visitors from South Korea (30,738) and Japan (11,464) decreased by 12.6 percent and 31.1 percent respectively. Visitors from the US (11,713) dipped by 0.4 percent year-on-year.
In the first eight months of the year, visitor arrivals rose by 7.7 percent year-on-year to 28.964 million; same-day visitors (17.850 million) grew by 13.6 percent while overnight visitors (1.114 million) dropped by 0.6 percent.
Foreign visitors totalled 1.768 million in the first eight months, up by 3.4 percent year-on-year.
Tourism continues to be Macau's primary source of revenue. Its gaming industry is the largest in the world. Macau's main attractions include its casinos, UNESCO World Heritage sites, diverse culinary scene, and retail sectors—particularly its jewellery shops and pharmacies.
At the end of June, according to the latest official demographics, Macau's population stood at 686,500. Based on its land area of 33.4 percent, its population density amounted to 20,553 per square kilometre, one of the world's highest.
Caption: Tourists and locals walk along Macau's main square, Largo do Senado, this evening. The square has been festively decorated for next week's Mid-Autumn Festival, also known locally as the Mooncake Festival./ Photo: Carl Leong
