MGTO asserts July a successful month for tourism

July was a great month for local tourism, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has said in a press statement, with preliminary figures indicating nearly 96,000 visitors daily and a peak of over 135,000 on a single day.

From July 1 to July 25, some 2.399 million inbound tourists visited Macau; an average of 95,979 per day, and an increase of 9.5% compared to the same period in 2023. These figures represent a recovery of 85.6% when compared with 2019 levels.

“As Macau entered the summer vacation, tourist attractions and places in various districts have been presenting a busy flow of people,” the MGTO said.

The MGTO said tourist numbers peaked on July 20, with over 135,000 visitors.

“The current passenger situation reflects tourists’ increasing interest in traveling to Macau, and [consequently] allowing Macau’s tourism economy to grow steadily,” the MGTO said.

The provisional data shows that from Jan. 1 to July 25 this year, inbound tourists numbers reached 19.119 million, while the number of international tourists was about 1.308 million. These figures correspond to year-on-year increases of 38.2% and 126.6% respectively, compared to 2023.

The MGTO said provisional industry information showed the average hotel occupancy rate in the first half of 2024 was 88.5%, an increase of 10.6% from the same period last year (77.9%) and just 2.6% below 2019.

More visitors stayed overnight in the first half of the year – about 7.831 million in total – an increase of 29.1% year-on-year compared to 2023.

The average overnight stay was 2.3 days, which the MGTO said contributed to the increased spending by tourists.

88,000 visit Grand Prix Museum

From Jan. 1 to July 25, the Macao Grand Prix Museum saw 87,902 visitors, a year-on-year increase of 26.02% compared with the same period last year.

The MGTO has launched several activities to increase the interest of locals and visitors to the museum, including free bus tour trips to the Guia Circuit for those with a GP Museum entry ticket.

The promotion will continue over the July and August weekends.