More visitors over the holidays but the share of foreigners shrinking

The number of visitors to Macau during the “Golden Week” of the National Day holidays has increased this year compared to 2023, official daily statistics released by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) show.

According to the figures, in the first seven days of the eight-day festive season, the total number of visitors to Macau presented an increase of 14.35% year-on-year compared to 2023.

Until Oct. 5 (Saturday) the total number of entries recorded was 982,581, that is, around 123,000 more than in the previous year.

Also notable was a slight change in the pattern of visitor arrivals which in 2023 saw the peak on the second day (Sept. 30) with a total of 158,633 entries, following six days in which the entry figures were successively and progressively lower.

This year, the peak of visitor entries was registered only on the fifth day (Oct. 3) when 174,234 visitors were recorded entering Macau borders.

This happened after an initial drop in the figures from the first to the second day (96,717 to 93,456), followed by a progressive rise until the peak and also a smoother decrease in the following days.

Despite the significant increase in the total figures and the new single-day high, not all figures show a positive trend as the share of foreign visitors, one of the important bids of Macau in what concerns tourism development, shows a decrease in the first seven days by around 0.3%. This happened not due to a decrease in the total number of foreign visitors entering Macau over this period but because this group registered a slower growth when compared to the visitors arriving from Greater China.

Still, the goal of receiving a daily average of over 130,000 set previously by Cheng Wai Tong, deputy director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), seems well on target with this figure standing at 140,369 over the first seven days.

According to Cheng, the final results should reach an unprecedented level.
The same MGTO official noted that in the first few days of the holidays, the local hotel occupancy rate was around 95%, a rate that is expected to be even higher in the peak days.

In August this year, Macau established a new monthly record welcoming over 3.65 million visitors.

The authorities have set a target of at least 33 million visitors by the end of 2024 with at least 2 million international arrivals. For 2025, the bar for international visitors is said to be raised to at least 3 million.

Over 1.1 million entries in eight days

The most up-to-date figures related to the entries recorded in Macau over the Golden Week by PSP have shown that over the last eight days (Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, 9 p.m.), Macau received over 1.1 million visitors, accounting for a daily average of over 137,647.

Although these results are not yet final, they draw a picture very close to the final figures that will only be known today.

Taking into account the figures released and updated until 9 p.m. on Sunday, this year’s visitation throughout the National Day holidays should represent an increase of over 18% when compared year-on-year with 2023 and also set a new record high for this period of the year.