Arrivals in January match levels seen in 2025

[Photo: Renato Marques]

Visitor arrivals in January this year were roughly on par with levels recorded one year earlier, with this year’s figure exceeding 2025 results by just 767 visitors.

In January this year, according to official figures from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), Macau received 3,647,328 visitors, 0.02% higher than in January 2025.

Concurrently, the January figure was 1.88% higher than December 2025 on a month-on-month basis, when approximately 3,580,130 people visited Macau.

Detailed analysis of the same figures shows that of the 3.65 million visitors in January this year, the majority were same-day visitors (2,254,699), representing a 4.6% year-on-year increase.

On the other hand, overnight visitors (1,392,629) declined by 6.6%.

No significant changes were noted regarding length of stay.

As for the source of visitors, arrivals from the Chinese mainland decreased by 1.6% year-on-year to 2,705,231 in January, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (1,452,011) decreasing by 9.6%.

According to DSEC, the decline was mainly due to a higher comparison base, as last year’s Lunar New Year holiday on the mainland fell in late January.

Visitors from Hong Kong (570,490) dropped by 1.3% year-on-year, while those from Taiwan (93,154) rose by 20.7%.

International visitor growth

International visitors totaled 278,453 in January, up 15.5% year-on-year.

Driving this growth were Southeast Asian markets, with visitors from Malaysia (18,252), Thailand (18,039), and Singapore (10,128) surging by 52.3%, 80.5%, and 28.6%, respectively.

On the other hand, declines were recorded in two of Macau’s traditional source markets, with visitors from the Philippines (45,425) and Indonesia (16,874) decreasing by 6.3% and 21.8%, respectively.

Another source market that recorded significant growth was India, which rose by 54.1% year-on-year to 10,244 visitors.

South Korea, the top international source market in 2025, continued to show strong performance in January, with 75,198 visitors, representing a 14.5% year-on-year increase.

On the other hand, visitors from Japan continued to decline (-1.6% year-on-year) to 11,834.

Long-haul visitors were led by the United States (12,948), which increased by 4.7% year-on-year in January.

Russian visitors on the rise

Notably, among long-haul markets, visitors from Russia recorded a significant jump, increasing by 86.6% year-on-year in January to nearly 7,700 visitors.

Tourism sector experts said the increase in Russian visitors is directly linked to the new direct flight route between Vladivostok, Russia, and Macau, which launched on December 23, 2025.

The flight, operated by Cambodia Airways, runs three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). The approximate flight time is five hours.

According to the Russian Consulate General in Hong Kong, “the opening of this direct route strengthens the region’s position in developing Chinese destinations. Over the first 11 months of 2025, passenger traffic to China reached 417,000 — a remarkable 87% increase compared with 2024.”

Back in May 2017, Royal Flight Airlines relaunched a weekly charter service between Macau and Moscow, with plans to increase frequency to twice weekly during the summer.

At the time, Eric Fong, director of the Marketing Department of Macau International Airport (MIA) Company, said that “MIA has been longing for opportunities to launch the Russian market for many years. Flight resumption between Macau and Moscow complied with our long-term commitment to grow mid- to long-haul services of MIA.”

Despite this charter flight not achieving the expected success, Macau continued to be linked to major cities in Russia primarily via connecting flights through Shanghai or Beijing. Still, the addition of the direct Vladivostok flight appears to be playing a significant role in the increase in visitors from Russia, who are characterized as high-spending travelers.

Six years ago, in an interview with the Times, a former Russian model who lived in Macau for more than 10 years noted that she saw great potential in Macau’s appeal to Russian visitors.

Mila Just, at the time a co-creator of the Instagram page “macaoguide,” said she created the page after discovering strong interest among Russian people in learning more about Macau.

Noting that the Russian market represents a major opportunity, she said that “for most people in Russia, Macau is still unknown. People only know that Macau is located right next to Hong Kong and that it has casinos, but they do not realize how rich it is in cultural diversity and influences.”

She added that Macanese cuisine also has the potential to attract Russian palates, as it may offer a very “homey” feeling for them. With so much to see and experience in Macau, these tourists are likely to stay in the city for several days rather than making single-day visits.