Macau was China’s favourite outbound destination for H1

Trips to Macau accounted for nearly half of all outbound trips.

Macau.- The China Tourism Academy has published its Big Data Report on Outbound Tourism in the First Half of 2023. It shows that Macau was the top preference for outbound tourists, accounting for nearly half of the 40.37 million trips undertaken.

Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan collectively accounted for 80 per cent of outbound visits. The cumulative number of visitor arrivals in Macau in the first half of the year grew 236.1 per cent year-on-year to 11,645,877. That’s 59.6 per cent of 2019 figures.

The rise is attributed to the ease of travel arrangements as reports obtaining visas for other popular destinations becomes more difficult.

The Macau SAR government has been working to diversify the economy and attract more overseas tourists, engaging in collaboration with airlines, e-commerce platforms, and online travel agencies. In the first half, the city’s total gross gaming revenue was MOP96.8bn (US$12bn), 61 per cent of the government’s full-year projection.

See also: Macau airport traffic recovers to 60% of pre-pandemic levels