Gov’t eyes 10% summer visitor surge after strong January-April

Macau recorded 14.66 million inbound visitors from January to April, and with first-quarter arrivals up 13.7% year-on-year, the tourism chief expects summer visitor numbers to rise by about 10% from last year.

In remarks to the media on Sunday, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), projected that overall visitor arrivals to Macau during the summer holiday period will rise by approximately 10% this year, noting that data from January to April already reflects an average increase of about 13%.

According to the latest data, Macau recorded 3.44 million inbound visitor arrivals in April, representing an 11.3% year-on-year increase. Cumulative arrivals for the January-to-April period reached 14.66 million, reflecting a 13.1% increase compared with the corresponding period last year. By source market, mainland Chinese visitors dominated with 2.405 million arrivals, up 13.1%, followed by Hong Kong with 680,000 arrivals, up 3.1%, and Taiwan with 101,000 arrivals, up 32.2%. In terms of length of stay, same-day visitors totaled 2.095 million, while overnight visitors numbered 1.345 million.

Noting that Thai visitor numbers increased by nearly 60% between January and April, the director of the MGTO revealed plans to jointly launch combination tourism products – including “Macau + Hengqin” and “Macau + Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area” – with Thai partners. She further indicated that subsequent targeted marketing initiatives would be developed for different markets.

Specifically, she noted that during a Macau tourism promotional seminar held in Thailand, she observed strong interest among local family and young traveler segments in “Macau + Hengqin” or Greater Bay Area combined tour products.

“Whether we can introduce mechanisms such as lucky draws, or even encourage them to increase their spending while in Macau to win prizes – based on what we learned just last week, the willingness is very strong,” she stated, expressing her hope that through diversified cooperation, Macau can further enhance both visitor arrivals and consumer spending.

Nevertheless, with weather forecasts indicating successive heavy rainfall and unstable conditions in the coming weeks, Senna Fernandes acknowledged that same-day short-haul visitor volumes could be particularly adversely affected. While noting that current weather patterns may represent the sole factor influencing tourist arrivals, she added that based on traditional seasonal patterns, the summer holiday period commencing in July is still anticipated to deliver a positive performance.