Visitor arrivals in August reach record high of 3.7 million

Visitor arrivals set a new monthly record in August, reaching 3,651,731 – a 13.3% increase year-over-year and 0.8% higher than August 2019. Same-day visitors grew 23.4% while overnight visitors increased 2.7%.

Mainland China remained the top source market, with 2.75 million visitors, up 18.5%. Visitors from the Greater Bay Area’s nine Pearl River Delta cities rose 21.3%. International visitor numbers also rebounded, up 25.5% to 162,331, though still at 75.3% of August 2019 levels.

In the first eight months of 2024, total visitor arrivals expanded 32.7% to 23.39 million, 85.3% of the same period in 2019. International visitors reached 1.5 million, 68.9% of the 2019 figure.

Meanwhile, the government anticipates that this trend will persist during the upcoming holidays, even though September typically sees a quieter period after the summer.

In an interview with local media last week, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), announced that this year’s National Day Golden Week will feature an international fireworks display aimed at attracting more tourists to Macau. She expressed optimism, stating, “Although the government has not yet compiled the statistics, we hope that the National Day Golden Week will attract a daily average of 100,000 visitors to Macau.”

“The strong visitor numbers, especially from the mainland, are a positive sign for Macau’s tourism-dependent economy,” said the official.

Meanwhile, the travel industry saw a strong rebound in 2023 as the number of visitor arrivals surged, according to data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). The number of travel agencies operating in Macau increased to 177 in 2023, up from 176 the previous year, with total employment rising by 802 to 2,993.

Industry receipts soared 214.3% year-on-year to MOP5.06 billion, recovering to 60% of 2019 levels. Receipts from room reservations, passenger transport ticketing, package tours, and rentals of coaches with drivers all saw substantial increases. Expenditure also rose, up 180.8% to MOP4.78 billion. Nadia Shaw