Visitor arrivals to Macau during the first three days of the October Golden Week holiday period rose by an average of 14 percent, to a total of 424,179, show data issued on Thursday by the Macao Government Tourism Office.
That was more than four percentage points fewer than the 18.4 percent year-on-year growth on the first day of the holiday period.
The average was brought down by only a 10.8 percent rise in the tally for day two, and a 13.3 percent increase for day three.
Visitors from mainland China made up 85.9 percent of all arrivals in the first three days of the holiday period, contributing 364,234 visits in total; and an average 24.1 percent year-on-year expansion for the first three days of the festive period.
October Golden Week is usually a peak season for the city’s tourism and casino industries as hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese tourists take advantage of the week-long break to visit Macau.
There is however no direct correlation between overall tourism arrivals and casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau, according to investment analysts, who have said that is because GGR in the Macau market has been typically skewed to high-end play.
China’s State Council declared October 1 to October 7 as this year’s National Day holiday period. But September 29 and 30 immediately beforehand are weekend days this year, meaning some spillover in terms of tourism arrivals had been anticipated by the authorities.
