A total of 25,920,914 visitors entered Macau in the first three quarters of this year, according to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
This is an increase of 30.1% year-on-year when compared to 2023 and a recovery of 85.8% in the number of visitors in the same period in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
This result was mostly due to an influx of same-day visitors (13,834,674), which grew 42.8% year-on-year.
Also up but to a lesser degree were overnight visitors (18.1%), which totaled 12,086,240 from January to September.
As a result of the increase in same-day visitors, the overall average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.1-day year-on-year to 1.2 days, with that of overnight visitors remaining unchanged at 2.3 days.
Mainland visitors continue to top the visitors’ sources, registering an increase of 36.3% year-on-year to 18,217,413 (70.3% of market share), with those traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) reaching 9,257,455, a growth of 20.4%.
Visitors from the nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area totaled 8,796,640 (+35.5%).
In the first three quarters of this year, visitor arrivals from the ten cities newly added to the IVS surged 53.9% year-on-year to 366,817. Of these, 76,464 were IVS visitors.
Visitors from Hong Kong (5,402,071) and Taiwan (623,880) rose 0.8% and 81.9% year-on-year, respectively.
The number of visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan rebounded to 84.9%, 97.2%, and 76.5% of the corresponding levels in the first three quarters of 2019.
International visitors soaring
The official statistics also note international visitors soared 95.1% year-on-year to 1,677,550 in the first three quarters of this year, returning to 70.7% of the level in the first three quarters of 2019.
Among international visitors, those from Southeast Asian markets dominated, with visitors from the Philippines (345,537), Indonesia (127,861), Thailand (95,108), and Singapore (74,156) increasing respectively by 75.6%, 33.6%, 70.6%, and 61.6% year-on-year.
From Asian markets, the most significant rises were registered by visitors from Malaysia (117,739), which leaped 136.4%, and India (77,071), which surged 133.6%.
Visitors from the Republic of Korea (341,497) and Japan (93,001) also jumped 207% and 102.6%, respectively.
On the long-haul markets, visitors from the USA (103,379) recorded an uplift of 83.2% year-on-year.
September on a high note
In September, the number of visitor arrivals expanded by 9.9% year-on-year to 2,528,011, a figure that is 91.4% of the same month in 2019.
In addition, the number of international visitors (173,614) rose 37.6% year-on-year, representing a recovery rate of 92.7% of September 2019 levels.
In the same month, same-day visitors (1,308,147) and overnight visitors (1,219,864) grew 15.6% and 4.3% year-on-year, respectively.
Meanwhile, the average length of stay of visitors (1.3 days) shortened by 0.1-day year-on-year.
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