South Korea sees surge in arrivals as mainland tourist numbers decline

The city’s inbound tourism sector showed positive growth in February, with a rise in international tour visitors, according to the latest data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

A total of 145,000 package tour visitors arrived in Macau, marking a 3.8% year-on-year increase.

The number of international tour visitors surged by 44.8% to 19,000, with the Republic of Korea contributing 11,000 arrivals, a 64.8% increase. In contrast, tour visitors from mainland China saw a slight decline of 0.7% to 124,000.

The hotel industry experienced strong occupancy rates despite a decrease in available guest rooms.

The number of guest rooms in Macau’s 147 hotel establishments dropped by 5.7% year-on-year to 44,000.

However, the average occupancy rate climbed by 5.5 percentage points to 90.6%. Five-star hotels led the way with an occupancy rate of 93.6%, followed by four-star hotels at 85.1% and three-star hotels at 87.2%.

While the total number of hotel guests declined by 7.8% year-on-year to 1.13 million, international guests rose by 17.5%.

Visitors from the Republic of Korea (30,000), Japan (8,000), and Malaysia (6,000) saw respective increases of 22.6%, 11.6%, and 20.5%. Other Southeast Asian markets, including Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia, also showed strong growth.

For the first two months of 2025, Macau welcomed 304,000 inbound package tour visitors, an 11.2% increase from the previous year.

In a recent reply to a written inquiry by lawmaker Lei Chan U, the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said that the bureau is stepping up its efforts to draw more international visitors by offering a variety of incentives, including travel discounts for foreign tourists arriving via Hong Kong International Airport.

However, it has not yet specified when discounted bus and ferry fares from Hong Kong to Macau will be reinstated.

MGTO has previously stated that it is also reinforcing its outreach in Southeast and Northeast Asia. Additionally, efforts will be ramped up in Europe, the United States, and India, with further exploration of emerging markets in the Middle East.