Tourist arrivals rebounding after downturn

Macau has recorded a steady rebound in visitor arrivals, which have been trending upward for four days in a row, registering 25,252 visitor arrivals on Friday, according to the recent government data.
Friday recorded the highest number of arrivals since the city entered the immediate prevention state and tightened its measures against Covid-19 on September 25 – which was later terminated on October 15.
Since September 25, Macau recorded a total of 13 new Covid-19 cases, causing Zhuhai to also tighten entry and exit requirements temporarily.
During this period, the average daily volume of visitor arrivals stood at about 1,000. Once the pandemic control and prevention measures at the ports of entry between Zhuhai and Macau were relaxed from 12:00 noon on October 19, the number of visitors immediately rebounded to nearly 14,000 in a single day.
Single-day visitor arrivals even exceeded 20,000 on October 20 and have stayed above that number since then.
As the pandemic situation in Macau stabilizes, in parallel with the latest adjustment to the pandemic control and prevention measures implemented at the ports of entry between Zhuhai and Macau, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said that it is promoting the destination. Specifically, it is leveraging various social media such as WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Douyin to spotlight Macau as a safe and quality destination among Mainland residents, welcoming visitors to experience the city.
This border restriction has discouraged travelers from the neighboring region to visit Macau, which also made significant impact in the Golden Week arrivals.
Also, the MGTO said that events and community activities will be coming up in November and December, such as the Macao Light Festival and the Light up Macao Drone Gala.
The latter, which was supposed to make its debut on October 1, was postponed due to the fresh Covid-19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, September arrivals soared by 53.7% month-on-month to 629,085, attributable to the easing of entry and exit requirements in Macau which occurred during most of the month. This also represented a growth of 40.1% year-on-year.