Gov’t optimistic about achieving 33 million visitor goal in 2024

Officials have expressed optimism Macau will reach its goal of 33 million visitors this year.

This comes as the Tourism Development Committee (CDT) last week convened its second plenary meeting of 2024, presided over by Secretary for Economy and Finance and committee chairperson Lei Wai Nong.

In the first 10 months of this year, Macau welcomed over 29 million visitors, marking a 28.1% increase compared to the previous year and reaching 87% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

With central government support, the Macau administration is actively advancing the ‘1 + 4’ development strategy aimed at fostering adequate diversification, the official said.

According to Lei, this initiative offers “vast potential” for the growth of Macau’s tourism industry.

Deputy director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Ricky Hoi painted a glowing picture of tourism’s recovery.

Average lengths of stay for all visitors, overnight-stay visitors, and hotel guests have reached or surpassed 2019 levels.

Between January and October, Macau registered an average of 95,000 daily visitors, with the daily average even exceeding 110,000 in February and August – surpassing 2019 levels.

International visitors amounted to 1.89 million, or 73.1% of the corresponding period in 2019. The daily average of international visitors ranged between 5,000 and 6,000, indicating a steady rebound.

The meeting also featured an update on the second-phase review of the Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan.

Recommendations included promoting diverse leisure tourism, expanding visitor source markets, deepening regional integration, and leveraging AI for tourism innovation.

Committee members discussed various ideas to enhance further the city’s tourism development, including promoting new visitor markets, improving airport connectivity, and introducing Muslim-friendly facilities and high-end transfer services.

Through the committee’s mechanism, MGTO will continue to collaborate with the travel trade in capitalizing on the central government’s preferential measures for Macau to deepen integration across ‘Tourism +’.

In a budget presentation recently at the Legislative Assembly, Lei projected the number of visitors expected this year to “36 million or more,” an increase of 9% when compared to last year. Victoria Chan