The number of visitor arrivals to Macau in the first 11 months of 2024 reached nearly 31.89 million, up 26.2 percent from the prior-year period, according to data published on Thursday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service. The figure represents 87.8 percent of 2019’s levels, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
International visitor arrivals in the January to November period rose by 74.5 percent year-on-year, to just above 2.13 million, equivalent to 75.8 percent of the corresponding period in 2019. The figure represented 6.7 percent of aggregate arrivals in the 11 months to November 30.
South Korea (437,160), the Philippines (433,102) and Indonesia (156,192) were Macau’s top-three source markets for international tourists in the first 11 months of 2024, according to the statistics bureau. There were significant increases in the number of visitors from Malaysia, India and Japan, albeit from a low base, showed the data.
Regarding long-haul markets, visitors from the United States increased by 63.9 percent year-on-year, to 132,619 in the January to November period.
The number of mainland visitors in the 11 months to November 30 rose by 31.4 percent year-on-year to just below 22.45 million, accounting for 70.4 percent of the overall tally.
About 6.55 million visitors originated from Hong Kong in the reporting period, representing 20.5 percent of the aggregate figure, while visitors from Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent, at 763,861.
In November alone, visitor arrivals to Macau were just above 2.83 million, up 9.6 percent year-on-year, showed the data.
The number of international visitors rose by 20.9 percent year-on-year to 241,057 in November.
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.
At the beginning of the year, the head of Macau’s tourism authority said the city aimed to attract about 3 million overseas visitors in 2024, similar to the full-year tally of 2019.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), said recently that the local authorities were “confident” in reaching “33 million” overall visitors this year.
“The question is whether we can reach further at 34 million, or a bit more. Hopefully within the remaining half of this month we’ll have good news to tell,” she said in comments to reporters.
Macau welcomed more than 32.5 million visitors as of December 7, a 25.7-percent increase from a year earlier, according to figures released by the city’s Public Security Police Force.
Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said in November that the city’s 2025 visitor tally could reach 36 million.
