Macau's CNY daily visitors on par with pre-Covid levels

Lunar New Year: First three days of arrivals surpass half a million

2024-02-13 16:54
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Official figures show that just over half a million tourists arrived in Macau during the first three days of the Year of the Dragon. The 502,164 visitors recorded from 10 to 12 February are 2.4 times more than the same period in the Year of the Rabbit, when 211,000 visitors arrived in the Region.

Shortly before the Lunar New Year Golden Week, the authorities had announced that the average daily number of visitors during the eight-day festival would be around 120,000, with a total of just under one million by the end of the eight-day Golden Week. However, figures now available show that the average daily number of visitors for the first three days of this Lunar New Year was 167,000.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year (12 February), there were 217,000 visitors, an increase of 33% on the 163,000 visitors on the second day of the Lunar New Year (11 February) and double the figure for the same period in 2023. Of these, 163,000 travelled from the Mainland visitors, representing a 3.3-fold increase from last year (2023), while 41,000 were Hong Kong visitors, representing a 49.3% increase from last year.

The Border Gate, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and Hengqin Port checkpoints are the main gateways for tourists to enter the Region.

Macau achieves post-pandemic record as visitor arrivals hit 217,451 on Day 3 of Golden Week

Ben Blaschke Wed 14 Feb 2024 at 03:30
www.asgam.com/index.php/2024/02/14/macau-achieves-post-pandemic-record-as-visitor-arrivals-hit-217451-on-day-3-of-golden-week/

Macau achieved a new post-pandemic record on Monday as 217,451 visitors entered the SAR – pushing the three-day Golden Week total above half a million.

According to information from the Public Security Police Force, the total number of visitors during the first three days of the eight-day Chinese New Year holiday period sits at 502,324, or 167,441 per day, representing a 160% year-on-year-increase.

Visitor numbers have also increased steadily each day, from 121,356 on Saturday to 163,427 on Sunday and climbing well above 200,000 for the first time on Monday. The previous post-pandemic high was achieved on New Year’s Eve when 175,030 made their way across the border.

As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) recently said it expects days three and four of CNY to be the busiest based on historical data, although its estimate of around 960,000 arrivals during Golden Week at an average of 120,000 per day is already looking conservative.

Of the total 502,234 visitor arrivals recorded so far, 364,742 have been from mainland China, with the daily average of 121,580 representing a 223% improvement over the first three days of the 2023 CNY holiday.

Another 103,038 have come from Hong Kong at an average of 34,346, up 45.9% year-on-year.

By mode of arrival, the total three-day tally includes 177,001 via the Border Gate, 127,744 via the HZMB checkpoint and 75,533 via the Hengqin Port. Around 66,000 have arrived by ferry and 30,610 by air.

DAILY VISITORS HIT ALMOST 180,000, REACHES PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

RENATO MARQUES, MDT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2024 - 10 HOURS AGO NO COMMENTS 864 VIEWS
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The first five days of the Spring Festival Golden Week, from Feb. 10 until Feb. 17, brought to Macau more visitors than in 2019, provisional figures released by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) and Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) have shown.

In the first five days (Feb. 10 to Feb. 14), the daily average of visitors entering Macau was 179,807, up 7.02% from pre-pandemic figure of 168,008.

This increase is even clearer when compared with the same period last year with the 2024 figure being 180% higher year-on-year.

The first three days of the new year, Feb. 10 to 12, contributed significantly to these results.

Visitor entries were consistently and significantly higher than in 2019, a trend that inverted from the fourth day onwards.

As the Times reported late last week, the MGTO had made a conservative forecast of about 120,000 visitors in the first eight days of the new year, a figure that should be easily surpassed. The peak of these numbers had already been reached by the third day, and after that the entry numbers started to decline.

In the same MGTO forecast, the tourism authority predicted 960,000 people would visit Macau over the week-long holiday, a number reached yesterday before noon with two days remaining.

As expected, the city was extremely busy around the major tourist landmarks such as the Ruins of Saint Paul’s and surrounding streets, in the Peninsula and the Rua do Cunha and surrounding areas in Taipa.

Still, most other areas of the Peninsula and Islands remained quiet as many locals prefer to spend holidays outside Macau.

Daily visitors close to an all-time record

A total of 217,541 visitors were recorded during the peak, the third day of the new year. This figure is the second largest for a single day and is close to the all-time record of 226,326 entries recorded on the third day of the new year in 2019.

The results of the first five days are reportedly making the MGTO reconsider its initial forecast with director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes telling Chinese media outlets Wednesday that is now expected the final figure for the eight days will be over 1 million visitors.

76% from the mainland, 18% from Hong Kong

As expected, visitors from mainland China continue to top the list of market sources by a large margin with 76.1% of all visitors entering Macau in the first five days of the new year coming from the mainland.

Hong Kong visitors were the second largest group, accounting for 18.4%.

Together, these two sources account for 94.5% of the total.

Those coming from other parts of the world, including visitors from Taiwan, were just 5.5%.

An analysis of the PSP’s daily figures, released before verification and cross-information, shows the number of foreigners in the first five days was a little over 40,000 while those arriving from Taiwan was around 10,000, which accounts for an average of respectively over 8,000 and about 2,000 per day.

Hotel occupancy over 90%

According to information released by the MGTO, hotel occupancy has recorded figures over the same period of over 90%.

Senna Fernandes said both the hotels very high occupancy rate as well as the number of visitors arrivals reflects favorably on the fact that the hotel industry has kept hotel room rates at a reasonable price.

F&B industry estimates sales up 20-30% compared to Christmas

Addressing the predicted effects of the Spring Festival Golden Week, representatives of the food and beverage (F&B) industry have said to expect sales from this sector to be up some 20 to 30% when compared to the holidays, at the end of last year, which includes the Winter Solstice, the Macau handover day and the Christmas holidays.

The forecast was aired by the president of the Macau Catering Industry Association, Lei Iam Leong, during a talk show on TDM’s Chinese-language radio station.

Lei also said the flow of visitors to traditional tourism areas is booming and that shops in the area are mainly focused on snacks, which are especially appreciated by tourists because they can eat on the go.

Lei said some of the products were being sold at a promotional price which also attracted more consumers.