Macau’s number of visitor arrivals reached 963,265 between last Thursday and Wednesday this week (from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the sixth day of the Chinese New Year), a 6.5 percent increase compared to the corresponding period of the lunar new year last year when 904,367 visitor arrivals were recorded, the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said in a statement yesterday.
The number of mainland visitor arrivals amounted to some 710,000 during the seven-day period, a 12.3 percent increase, according to the statement. Mainlanders accounted for 74.3 percent of all visitor arrivals during the period, the statement said.
According to the statement, the number of Hong Kong visitor arrivals was about 170,000 during the period, a 9.4 percent decrease, while some 19,000 Taiwanese visitor arrivals were recorded, down 6.7 percent.
The number of foreign visitor arrivals was about 52,000 during the period, down 0.3 percent, the statement said.
Among the five days, Sunday (the third day of the Chinese New Year) saw the highest number of both total visitor arrivals and mainland visitor arrivals: 185,563 (up 11.8 percent) and 143,876 (up 19.1 percent) respectively, according to the MGTO website yesterday.
The statement said that the growth rate of the number of visitor arrivals during the mainland’s Chinese New Year Golden Week exceeded what the government previously expected for the period due to several factors, such as newly-opened tourism and entertainment venues, “wonderful” festive activities, as well as the relatively amenable weather.
The 27-billion-pataca MGM COTAI integrated resort opened last Tuesday – three days before the Chinese New Year.
According to data provided by the local hotel sector, the occupancy rate of Macau’s hotels and inns amounted to 94.5 percent during the Chinese New Year Golden Week, the same as during the corresponding period last year, the statement said.
According to the statement, the average room rate per night of local hotels and inns during the seven-day period amounted to 1,951.8 patacas, a 5.9 percent increase compared to the corresponding period last year.
During the period, the average room price was 2,195.2 patacas for five-star hotels (up 5.1 percent),1,636.8 patacas for four-star hotels (up 7.6 percent), 1,546.1 patacas for three-star hotels (up 5.4 percent), 1,192.4 patacas for two-star hotels (up 2.7 percent), and 879.7 patacas for inns (up 13.7 percent), the statement said.
Tourists and residents throng Largo do Senado earlier this week. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
