Visitor numbers drop 24% y-o-y in April

Visitor arrivals rose by 15.2% month-on-month to 606,841 in April, yet the figure still represents a year-on-year drop of 23.7%, according to the Statistics and Census Service. 

The number of overnight visitors (180,938) fell by 59.8% year-on-year, whereas the figure for same-day visitors (425,903) grew by 23.7%. 

Although April’s increase was attributable to the easing of entry measures, Macau saw its inbound visitor arrivals decline, partly due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai.

The average daily volume of tourists in April tallied around 11,000, far less than the average daily arrivals February, which was 23,000.

Previously, Macao Government Tourism Office director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes has noted that Shanghai remains Macau’s major source of visitors.

The Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, is observed in April, which boosted tourism arrivals in pre-pandemic times.

However, the Macau SAR recorded only 48,536 tourist arrivals during the three days of the Ching Ming Festival holiday, a 50% fall from the nearly 99,600 arrivals reported last year.

Even in China, Beijing’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that an estimated 75 million domestic trips were made during the festival, down 26.2% from last year.

Looking at the source of visitors, the number of visitors from mainland China decreased 26.8% year-on-year to 534,899, with 118,589 of these travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme.

Visitors from the nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area totaled 394,246, of whom 66.2% came from Zhuhai. Additionally, there were 65,418 visitors from Hong Kong and 6,415 from Taiwan.

In the first four months of 2022, the number of visitor arrivals dropped by 2% year-on-year to 2,483,688. Overnight visitors (861,663) fell by 37.1% year-on-year, while same-day visitors (1,622,025) rose by 39.4%.

The casino sector also saw its gross gaming revenue drop steeply in April to MOP2.68 billion, the lowest figure recorded since September 2020, as the city endured stricter border controls as fresh outbreaks arose in neighboring regions.

April’s gaming revenue is 68.1% lower year-on-year and 27.1% lower than in March, and only equates to about 11% of pre-pandemic figures for the same month.