Tourism | Visitor arrivals up 37% during Labor Day holidays

Provisional statistics have shown that Macau hosted a total of 636,644 visitors throughout the Labor Day holiday weekend, which was extended to a span of four days in mainland China.

Visitor arrivals during the first three days of the Labor Day Holiday this year reached 531,503, registering a year-on-year rise of 37%. Some 436,679 of the visitors came from the Mainland, an increase of 42.7%.

To date, the capacity of various local hotels and guesthouses has reached a total of 40,162 rooms. According to the latest figures provided by industry operators, local hotel establishments saw an average occupancy rate of approximately 96.2% during the Labor Day holiday, a year-on-year rise of 1.9 percentage points. The average room rate of hotel establishments in the city reached MOP1,882.2, an increase of about 16.7%.

Meanwhile, the bureau recorded a total of 2,665 users that utilized the “smart application for visitor flows” from May 1 to 4, who were mainly local residents and tourists from the mainland.

During this period, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) conducted 38 inspections at major ports of entry and tourist attractions and found no irregularities involving unlicensed tour guides. Yet it discovered that there were a few individuals leading tour groups without displaying or wearing any local tour guide license.

The bureau said that three official statements were issued against such cases of irregularities by tour guides leading tour groups without wearing a tour guide license, and sanction procedures will ensue.

The MGTO also carried out 12 joint actions against illegal accommodation with the Public Security Police Force and closed eight apartments allegedly operating as illegal accommodation.

Meanwhile, the bureau said that it has plans for developing a pilot scheme to unfold in the vicinity from Senado Square to the Ruins of St. Paul’s, to collect statistical figures about visitor flows via measuring devices using the Internet of Things (IOT), thus optimizing the forecast of visitor flows at tourist attractions.

The MGTO and the Hong Kong Tourism Board will sign a “Cooperative Agreement on [a] Research Project about the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge”, to conduct a comprehensive analysis on the situation since the bridge has come into operation.

The findings are intended to serve as reference for future tourism planning and destination promotion of the SAR.

MGTO said that it would also work on developing new tourist attractions for re-distribution of visitor flows and embark upon a study regarding the possible imposition of a tourism tax. LV