International visitors close the year on a crescendo, still below expectations

[Photo; Renato Marques]

The number of international visitors to Macau has recorded a crescendo at the end of 2025, with December delivering the highest result of the year.

In December 2025, a total of 334,615 international visitors arrived in Macau, a figure that topped the previous high by far, which was reached in November (273,950).

The December figure was 22.14% higher month-on-month than November (the second-highest score) and 89.96% higher than the lowest record of 2025 (September). The last quarter (Q4) of 2025 also delivered the year’s three best results for arrivals beyond Greater China, totaling 869,509 visitors.

Still, in total, the final figure for international visitors in 2025 reached only 2,755,474, which was 244,526 visitors short of the goal set by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) of reaching 3 million international visitors for the year.

On average, the number of visitors per month was 229,623, a figure that contrasts with the forecasted average of 250,000.

South Korea tops the ranks

Among those, almost 2.8 million international visitors arrived in Macau in 2025; the majority came from South Korea, which continued to top the ranks as the largest source of visitors to Macau.

South Koreans accounted for 547,638 visitors in 2025, or 19.87% of the market share, closely followed by the Philippines (540,284 or 19.61%).

In third place was Indonesia, with 208,043 visitors and a market share of 7.55%. After the highlighted Top 3, figures tend to stabilize, with a large number of countries contributing visitors in roughly equal numbers. Fourth place was held by Malaysia (188,977 at 6.86%), and fifth place was Thailand (185,963), accounting for a market share of 6.75%.

In the sixth position, we find the first among the long-haul markets, a position occupied by the USA, traditionally the country with the most visitors to Macau among non-Asians.

The USA contributed 162,460 visitors, holding a market share of 5.9% among international visitors to Macau in 2025. Japan came right after with 159,455 visitors (5.79%).

In eighth place, and the first market to record a drop compared to the previous year, were visitors from Singapore (117,165).

Despite accounting for 4.25% of the market, visitors from the City-State dropped by 1.7% compared to 2024 and also recorded an accentuated drop month-on-month in December 2025 (-8.7%).

Singapore was also the only country to record a decline in 2025 compared to 2024. This figure is particularly important, as visitors from Singapore have been recorded as the biggest spenders among all visitors to Macau in the past.

Ninth in the ranking was India (114,040), with 4.14% market share, thanks to a strong leap at the end of the year, which accounted for a 30.9% month-on-month increase in December.

Australia rounded out the Top 10 with 73,421 visitors and 2.66%, a figure close to Canada’s, which came right after (67,416 visitors and 2.45%).

Among the European markets, the first single country in the ranking is the United Kingdom (in 14th position) with 42,211 visitors and a 1.53% market share.

It is also worth noting the performance of Portugal and Spain, countries in which the MGTO has been investing to increase international visitation by hosting roadshows, participating in tourism fairs, and other collaborative events.

For the time being, visitors from Portugal occupy the 20th position in the ranking with 14,331 visitors and a share of just 0.52%, while visitors from Spain were just 9,986 or 0.36% (25th position).

Overall visitor numbers grew 15%

In 2025, Macau welcomed 40,069,360 visitors, an increase of 15% year-on-year from 2024. In total, the MGTO goal of reaching 40 million was met, but with a high incidence of mainland residents (+18.5%).

It is worth noting that the number of visitors from the neighboring region of Hong Kong has remained stable at over 7 million, with the final result reaching 7,300,582, a 1.7% increase year-on-year.

Also growing above average were visitors from Taiwan (19.4% increase), reaching almost 1 million. In terms of structure, visitors from the mainland continue to account for the majority, at 72.4%, followed by Hong Kong at 18.2% and Taiwan at 2.5%.

This means that international visitors accounted for only 6.9% of the total, virtually unchanged from 2024.