The Public Security Police (PSP) recorded over 39.4 million visitor arrivals last year, a new record, up 10 percent from 2018 when the city logged 35.8 million visitor arrivals.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes forecast late last year around 40 million visitor arrivals in 2019.
According to a PSP statement on Wednesday, the police recorded some 28 million mainland visitors in 2019, accounting for 71 percent of all visitor arrivals, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The statement said that the next 10 biggest source markets of Macau’s visitor arrivals last year were South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Singapore and Australia. The statement did not mention the numbers of the visitor arrivals from the 10 foreign countries.
The police recorded 194 million entries and exits at the city’s eight border checkpoints last year, also a new record, a nine percent increase from 2018 when they recorded 179 million entries and exits, the statement said, pointing out that the number of entries and exits has increased for seven consecutive years.
The entry and exit figures announced by the Public Security Police, which run the city’s immigration service, comprise local residents, visitors, non-resident workers and non-local students enrolled in local education establishments.145 million pass through Barrier Gate
According to the statement, the police recorded 145 million entries and exits at the Barrier Gate checkpoint last year, an eight percent increase from the previous year, accounting for 75 percent of the total number of Macau’s entries and exits.
The statement also said that the number of entries and exits at the Barrier Gate checkpoint hit a record high of 484,000 last Saturday, which replaced the previous record on May 2 when the police recorded 481,000 entries and exits at the city’s busiest checkpoint.
The statement also said that the number of travellers using the Macau checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) has been constantly increasing since the opening of the mega-bridge in late October 2018. The police recorded 13.3 million entries and exits at the HZMB Macau checkpoint last year, accounting for seven percent of the total number of the city’s entries and exits, the statement said, adding that it has become Macau’s second busiest checkpoint, with the highest number of daily entries and exits at 78,000 so far.
The police recorded over nine million entries and exits at the airport last year, a 16 percent increase from the previous year, according to the statement, which said that the airport’s number of entries and exits hit a record high of 31,000 on August 16.
The statement said that with more travellers being diverted to the HZMB Macau checkpoint, the number of entries and exits at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal and the Taipa Ferry Terminal dropped by 37 percent and 30 percent from 2018 respectively.
The police recorded 9.75 million entries and exits at the Lotus Flower checkpoint in Cotai – which is slated to be relocated to the new mainland-Macau joint checkpoint in Hengqin later this year, a year-on-year increase of one percent.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Wednesday shows travellers passing through e-channels at the Barrier Gate – one of the world’s busiest immigration and customs checkpoints.
