Macau to end year with 5 million visitors

The Macao Government Tourism Office has said the SAR is not likely to attract many visitors in December.

Macau.- The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has announced that the SAR is likely to end the year 2020 with a total visitor number of around 5 million.

The number is obviously a huge fall on last year’s 40 million visitors. Half of the 2020’s visitors were recorded in January before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the region. So far, December is seeing daily entries of between 18,000 and 20,000 and Macau does not expect to see that increase this month.

MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, told press after the Global Tourism Economy Forum: “I don’t think we will reach 6 million this year […] It was a very difficult year […] January was a very good month with 3 million visitors but the remaining 11 months didn’t even match that amount”.

“Christmas and New Year is not traditionally a travelling period for mainland Chinese so we don’t anticipate a very high number of bookings. But we would hope that there will be more retail shopping.

“We are having the Macau Shopping Festival at the time and we hope this kind of activity can stimulate more spending in Macau and attract more visitors.”

Authorities in Macau recently announced the cancellation of the New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

Fernandes backed the Health Bureau’s decision. She said: “I don’t think this decision will have a significant impact [in visitation for December].”