Macau sees more than 260,000 visitors at start of Chinese New Year
This year’s Chinese New Year holiday period runs from February 15 to 23.
Macau.- Preliminary figures from Macau’s Public Security Police indicate that more than 264,000 visitors entered the city over the weekend for the start of Chinese New Year, which this year will run from February 15 to 23. On the first day of the holiday period, there were 132,428 arrivals.
Most travellers entered via the Border Gate checkpoint (111,494 arrivals), followed by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (54,400) and the Hengqin checkpoint (50,687).
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) forecast a daily influx of 158,000 to 175,000 arrivals during this year’s Chinese New Year holiday. She said Macau was likely to receive between 1.4 and 1.5 million tourists over the whole nine-day Lunar New Year period, surpassing last year’s tally of 1.31 million amid a longer holiday period and a 5 per cent yearly increase in Macau’s budget for entertainment.
Events include the Golden Dragon Parade on February 17 and 18, and three large-scale drone and fireworks shows, which will combine pyrotechnics with 3,888 drones overlooking Macau Tower on February 19, February 23 and March 3. There will be six designated viewing areas across the city.
In addition, MGTO will roll out the ZAPE Gallop Gala community event from February 13 to March 1, linking Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day celebrations through installations, promotions and activities aimed at boosting visitor spending in local districts. Online and offline promotional initiatives, including interactive games and lucky draws via MGTO’s WeChat mini-programme will also be launched.
