Macau received nearly 9m visitors in Q1

The number of visitors was up by 80 per cent in year-on-year terms.

Macau.- The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has announced that the city received nearly 9 million visitors during the first three months of the year. The figure was up by 80 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The data indicates an average of 98,000 visitors per day, still only 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The Lunar New Year holiday on February 12 saw 220,000 arrivals recorded, the second-highest single-day figure on record.

Mainland Chinese tourists accounted for the majority of arrivals at 6.3 million nearly 84 per cent of 2019 levels. Visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan reached 1.82 million and 182,000 respectively, while international travellers totaled 585,000 people, almost 68 per cent of 2019 levels.

The director of Macau’s Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said that based on the results, the government is on track to achieve its target of 2 million overseas visitors this year. Senna Fernandes expects an average of 130,000 visitors per day during the upcoming Labour Day “golden week” holiday.

Earlier this week, Macau’s chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, said that Macau could attract more than 30 million tourists in 2024.