Macau airport sees rise in passengers for Chinese New Year

Some 170,000 passengers passed through the airport from January 29 to February 4.

Macau.- The Macau International Airport (MIA) saw 170,000 passengers and more than 1,265 flight movements during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, from January 29 to February 4. That’s an increase of 5.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively compared to the same period last year but still only 80 per cent of 2019 levels.

The highest volume of passenger traffic was recorded on the fifth and sixth days of the holiday period (February 2 and 3), with daily passenger counts of 26,000 and 25,000. That’s a rise of 4 per cent and 12 per cent in year-on-year terms.

Passengers on mainland China routes accounted for 50 per cent of volume, while international routes accounted for 33 per cent and other routes to China and Taiwan 17 per cent. Frequent destinations included Shanghai, Taipei and Bangkok.

In January, the airport had 680,000 passengers and 5,261 flights. That’s a rise of 15.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively, compared to January 2024.

See also: Macau airport passenger volume hits a record in 2024

Chinese New Year draws 1.31 million visitors to Macau

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has reported that some 1.31 million visitors arrived in Macau during the Chinese New Year holiday. The average daily visitation was 163,696, down 3.5 per cent in year-on-year terms and down 4.7 per cent from pre-Covid-19 levels in 2019 (171,702).

The daily average of visitors from mainland China was 125,000, down 3.2 per cent year-on-year. The overall and average daily volumes of visitors were 231,000 and 29,000 from Hong Kong, 20,000 and 2,500 from Taiwan and 58,000 and 7,300 from other countries. The latter figure was up 10.2 per cent year-on-year.

Daily visitor arrivals reached a peak of 219,000 on the fourth day of the holiday period, a 9.1 per cent increase compared to the fourth day of the Spring Festival Golden Week in 2024 and the second-highest number since the commencement of single-day statistics.

The average occupancy rate at hotels in Macau was 95 per cent, the same as last year. Hotel occupancy rate peaked at 97.8 per cent on the fourth day (February 1). The average room rate of Macau’s hotel establishments (including hotels, apartment hotels and economical accommodation establishments) was around MOP1,839.5, down 2.4 per cent year-on-year.

See also: Macau Chinese New Year GGR down year-on-year, Seaport Research says