The August tally of visitor arrivals in Macau rose sharply compared to July, said a Monday announcement from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. The August numbers were 227,113, up 206.9 percent on the prior month, “thanks to the increase in the number of visitors from mainland China who entered the territory with various types of visa,” said the announcement. But judged year-on-year, the tally of August arrivals was down 93.7 percent.
The August visitor data released on Monday showed the number of same-day and of overnight visitors was respectively 156,481 and 70,632. The average length of stay across both visitor categories was 0.9 of a day in August, a reduction of 0.3 of a day year-on-year.
The government said that was due to the component of same-day visitors – amounting to 68.9 percent of the total – having increased by 15.7 percentage points year-on-year.
The average length of stay for day trippers – at 0.1 of a day – decreased by 0.1 of a day. The average visit by overnighters, was 3.3 days, an increase of 1.0 days.
August’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau fell by 94.5 percent year-on-year, to MOP1.33 billion (US$166.6 million), according to data from the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, released on September 1.
The tally of arrivals of visitors from mainland China in August stood at 200,833, down 92.4 percent judged year-on-year. Of those, 13,043 were using Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visas.
Applications for such exit visas had only restarted on August 26, and then only for people from places in Guangdong. Applications for IVS permits by people from other parts of China only restarts on Wednesday (September 23).
Of the total August visits from the mainland, the statistics bureau said it was “noteworthy” that the component collectively hailing from the nine cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area totalled 130,781. Of these, most – a sub-total of 88,470 – was from Zhuhai, the mainland city nearest to Macau.
The number of August arrivals by Hong Kong and Taiwan ID holders respectively, were 23,415 and 2,862. People that have been in those places before arriving in Macau must undergo a 14-day quarantine under current Macau-government rules.
Most August visitors to Macau arrived by land, and most of those came via Gongbei.
In the first eight months of this year, just above 3.57 million visitors entered the territory, a year-on-year decline of 87.0 percent.
The numbers of day trippers (1,929,909) for the calendar year to August 3, and the number of overnighters (1,640,110) decreased respectively by 86.7 percent and 87.3 percent, judged year-on-year.
The number of visitors from mainland China (2,606,911), Hong Kong (682,177) and Taiwan (85,761) decreased by more than 80 percent, compared to the same period last year.
