‘Ching Ming’ weekend brings 15% more visitors than last year, 31,000 international tourists

Figures from the Public Security Police Force show that the three-day long weekend that coincided with the holiday of the “Ching Ming” Festival brought 408,778 visitors to Macau.

The figure represents an average of 136,259 visitors per day, an increase of 14.6% from 2024.

Accounting for the more considerable difference was the result of the first day (Friday, April 4), when 173,256 visitors entered Macau, 27.1% more than in 2024.

Concurrently, the number of international visitors during the same period was 31,184, representing 7.6%.

Although no official statistics were released last year for the Ching Ming Festival, as it coincided with the Easter Holidays and so the data were presented together, over this time of the year last year, the percentage of international visitors was about 4%, with the figure now revealed anticipating a significant increase in this type of visitor.

Analysis of last year’s data shows that over 11 days (Mar. 29 to Apr. 8), 85,510 international visitors entered Macau, representing a daily average of 7,774.

This number contrasts with the one recorded during the three days of the Ching Ming Festival this year, when the average of international visitors grew to 10,395 per day.

The percentage of visitors from the mainland continued to be around 73%, while another 17% arrived from Hong Kong. Taiwan continues to be accountable for around 2% of the visitor sources.

The total number of border crossings has reached over 2 million, with an average of 671,181 per day, an increase of about 11% yearly.

Border Gate favorite of locals and visitors

Without any surprise, the busiest border post continued to be the Border Gate, which accounted for about half of the total border movements (1,011,155), of which 382,946 were related to visitors, noting that the majority of the border crossing at this checkpoint is still from residents as well as non-resident workers.

Border Gate was seconded in movement by the neighboring Qingmao Port, which registered 311,435 border movements, from which only 29,358 were from visitors.

Macau’s third most popular entry and exit point was the Macau Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB), which recorded 273,238 movements. In this case, the percentage of visitors was significantly higher as this Port was used by 162,135 visitors, coming second in the preference of tourists.

The Macau Port Area at Hengqin Port recorded a movement closer to the HKZMB, with 260,247 border movements. Of these, almost half (128,795) were from visitors to Macau.