Macau airport forecasts 10-15% passenger volume increase in 2024

The forecast was made by Fong Hio Kin, the airport’s marketing director.

Macau.- Backed by the results achieved in 2023, when 5.15 million passengers used the airport, Fong Hio Kin, the marketing director of Macau International Airport predicted that this year’s passenger volume could increase by 10 to 15 per cent over the previous year.

Hio Kin said during a ceremony to inaugurate a Macau-Kuala Lumpur flight operated by Air Macau: “Although the aviation industry has not fully recovered, and there seems to be a manpower shortage in surrounding regions, such as in the field of ground services.

“The airport will, however, allocate resources to support the development of airlines.”

In 2023, Macau registered 28m visitor arrivals, with a daily average of circa 77,000 tourists. This figure was equivalent to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Preliminary data indicates that the pace of recovery in daily international visitor numbers increased from 10.1 per cent in January 2023 to 94.4 per cent in December 2023. In 2022, the city saw 5.70m visitor arrivals, lower than even the 5.9m registered in 2020 due to travel restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The city’s authorities have been working for the past few years after the Covid-19 pandemic to expand visitor numbers. With this goal in mind, the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has launched several promotions throughout 2023 to encourage a massive influx of overseas tourists.

See also: MGTO launches direct bus from HK airport to Macau

In addition, the government required Macau’s casino operators to increase their non-gaming offerings to reach out to other types of tourists.