Macau sees record tourist arrivals, surpassing pre-pandemic numbers

Macau has reached record highs in tourist arrivals during its Golden Week, with nearly 174,234 visitors recorded yesterday—the highest daily count for the National Day holiday according to official statistics.

Oct. 2, the second day of the holiday, saw the city welcome 166,100 inbound tourists. This marks a 20% increase from the previous day and surpasses the 162,100 visitors recorded on Oct. 5, 2019. This figure stands as the highest daily visitor total for the National Day holiday in official records.

Cheng Wai Tong, deputy director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), has announced that the agency anticipates average daily visitor arrivals during the Golden Week holiday to exceed 130,000, setting a new record for the National Day holiday.

Cheng’s remarks followed the release of official statistics for the second day of the week-long holiday period.

This figure marks the second highest of the year, just shy of the 166,500 arrivals on Aug. 24.

This year, visitor numbers to Macau have already exceeded those recorded in 2019 during the same timeframe.

Cheng noted in an interview that the initial days of the holiday have performed better than anticipated, suggesting that total visitor numbers for the week are likely to reach unprecedented levels.

“The hotel occupancy rate for the first two days was 94.6%, and we expect daily visitor arrivals to remain above 130,000,” he stated. “The recovery of Macau’s tourism industry has been robust, and we believe this positive trend will continue throughout the National Day holiday.”

Government data shows that the top three single-day attendance records for past National Day holidays were all set in 2019: 162,100 Oct. 5; 161,600 Oct. 3; and 159,300 Oct. 2.

Macau welcomed over 3.65 million visitors in August, establishing a “new monthly record.”