Tourism surge boosts hotel occupancy rates

The first half of the year saw a significant increase in tourism, with the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reporting 968,000 inbound tourists on package tours, a 1.7-fold increase from the previous year.

Group tourists from mainland China rose 1.4 times to 851,000, while international group tourists surged 8.4 times to 102,000.

In June alone, Macau welcomed 120,000 package tourists, marking a 52.1% year-on-year increase.

Notably, group tourists from South Korea and India grew 14.3 times and 20.5 times, respectively. Additionally, Macau residents purchased 259,000 outbound travel services through agencies, up 49.8% from last year.

The hotel sector also experienced growth, with 143 establishments providing accommodation, an increase of 12 year-on-year.

The number of available rooms rose 9.1% to 47,000, and the average occupancy rate climbed to 84.0%, up 6.1 percentage points from last year.

Five-star hotels reported an occupancy rate of 85.8%, while four-star hotels reached 80.4%.

In total, 7.277 million guests stayed at hotels in the first half of the year, a 20.4% increase year-on-year.

International guests numbered 542,000, with Korean visitors increasing 2.7 times.

Despite a slight dip in June occupancy rates to 82.7% due to increased room supply, the overall outlook remains positive. NS