Visitor arrivals to Macau totalled nearly 20.3 million for the first half of this year, representing a year-on-year increase by 20.6 percent, according to the latest official data. The number of same-day visitors – which accounted for about half the arrivals – also saw a double-digit percentage increase in the period.
Data published on Monday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service, indicated Macau received an aggregate of nearly 10.8 million day trippers for the first half of this year, a tally that has increased by 34.2 percent year-on-year. The number of overnight visitors was up by 8.2 percent year-on-year to nearly 9.5 million during the period.
The statistics bureau’s tourist arrival data for the first half of this year indicated the average length of stay of visitors to Macau slightly shortened judged year on year: by 0.1 day to 1.1 days. The duration of visit for overnighters and same-day visitors was 2.2 days and 0.2 day respectively.
For the first six months of this year, mainland China remained the largest-single source of inbound visitors, providing 14.3 million, a year-on-year increase by 22.3 percent. Approximately 48 percent of those mainland Chinese visitors, or just over 6.8 million entrants, travelled to Macau via the individual visit scheme (IVS).
In June alone, Macau received a total of nearly 3.1 million visitors, up by 18.9 percent year-on-year.
The June aggregate of visitors from mainland China increased by 19.9 percent year-on-year to nearly 2.1 million, with those travelling under the IVS permits – totalling 931,260 – a year-on-year increase of 14.9 percent. Visitors hailing from the mainland came primarily from Guangdong (more than 924,400) and Hunan province (more than 96,300).
The June tally of tourists from South Korea (60,753), Hong Kong (623,114) and Taiwan (94,078) went up by 5.1 percent, 24.3 percent and 1.3 percent respectively year-on-year.
In June, the volume of Macau’s inbound visitors arriving via land crossings – including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – grew by 51.5 percent year-on-year to over 2.2 million, far outpacing the growth in numbers regarding those that arrived in the city by air or by sea. The tally of visitors coming to Macau via ferries in that month declined by nearly 36.2 percent to 545,063, the official data show.
