The head of Macau’s tourism authority says the city aims to attract about 3 million overseas visitors this year, similar to the full-year tally of 2019, the last trading year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes made the forecast in comments to local media on Wednesday.
In 2023, Macau welcomed 1.46 million visitors from overseas, “circa 48 percent of 2019 levels,” Ms Senna Fernandes stated.
According to official data, Macau received nearly 3.07 million overseas visitors in 2019.
The Macau government has a stated policy aim of encouraging its casino concessionaires to draw more of their customers from markets beyond China.
As part of the Macau government’s tender process for new 10-year gaming concessions, bidders were asked to create plans and pledge investment on a number of issues, including bringing in more customers from overseas.
MGTO launched earlier this month a free-ticket offer on the direct bus service from Hong Kong International Airport to Macau. The subsidy aims to“encourage” international visitors travelling in Hong Kong “to extend their trip to Macau”.
“The offer is set to spur twin-destination tourism to Hong Kong and Macau while tapping a more diverse range of international visitor markets,” the tourism office said last week.
Macau welcomed about 28.23 million visitors in full-year 2023, a daily average of circa 77,000, said the tourism office in a separate Monday press release. The figure represented a recovery to about 70 percent of the level seen in 2019.
