Christmas ‘Golden Week’ delivers new annual record for tourist arrivals

The week between the Macau Special Administrative Region’s establishment day and the Christmas holidays attracted more than 1 million visitors to Macau.

According to provisional data released by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) for the eight days from Dec. 20 to Dec. 27, a total of 1,006,921 visitors arrived in Macau, averaging 125,865 per day.

Given that official statistics show that, at the end of November this year, visitor arrivals totaled 36,489,230, and the daily average in December has been around 100,000, Macau should already have surpassed the 2019 record of 39,406,000 visitors.

According to PSP, the record was expected to be broken around 11 a.m. on Dec. 27 (Saturday).

With the current average and the expected continuation of the influx of visitors in the last days of this year, Macau is projected to close the year at around 40 million visitors, as anticipated by local tourism authorities at the start of the year.

Concurrently, a large number of locals and non-resident workers crossed the border into and out of Macau during this period, totaling 5,535,069 border crossings.

Over the eight days, Saturday (Dec. 27) recorded the highest number of arrivals at 156,918, followed by the previous Saturday (Dec. 20) at 149,484.

In addition to the two highest counts, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day) was above average, with 129,974 visitor arrivals.

As usual, the vast majority of arrivals were mainland residents, who continue to arrive mostly (around 50%) via the Border Gate.

The Macau Port Area at Hengqin Port also recorded a substantial number of visitors, approaching the second-largest entry port, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Hengqin Port surpasses 30 million passengers

The PSP also announced that, as of 1 p.m. yesterday, annual passenger flow through Hengqin Port exceeded 30 million for the first time, averaging 83,000 passengers per day, a year-on-year increase of 32%.

According to PSP’s analysis, tourists accounted for approximately 38% of border crossings, while local residents accounted for nearly 27%. Non-local university students accounted for almost 18%, while non-resident workers made up 15%.

Statistical data show that since the beginning of this year, approximately 20 million mainland tourists have entered and exited via Hengqin Port, representing a year-on-year increase of 25%.

Almost 9 million travelers through this port were Macau and Hong Kong residents, with local residents increasing by 50%, outpacing those from Hong Kong, which grew by 43%.

The port was also used by approximately 450,000 international tourists from various countries, representing the most significant year-on-year increase of 84%.