Macau’s tourism boss said in Friday comments that Macau might be able to draw “38 million to 39 million” visitors this year, a level “very close” to the pre-pandemic trading year of 2019, with additional volume of arrivals from neighbouring city Zhuhai – amid mainland exit-visa policy easing – being a key factor.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes (pictured in a file photo), director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), was speaking on the sidelines of a public event.
She also stated that visitor volume specifically during an eight-day mainland holiday encompassing Chinese New Year was forecast to reach “185,000” daily on average. Of that tally, around “8,000”, i.e., 4.3 percent, were expected to come from international markets, a segment she noted was seeing “satisfactory” post-pandemic growth.
China’s State Council has declared the mainland holiday this time to mark the Year of the Snake as running from January 28 to February 4 inclusive.
In November the Macau government had forecast 36 million tourism arrivals for this year. The lower end of the new estimate – if realised – would be 5.6 percent above that, and equal to 96.4 percent of the 39.4 million tourist entries achieved in 2019.
Ms Senna Fernandes said the authorities had made a reassessment of previous 2025 estimates, and mentioned the role played by the mainland authorities’ easing of travel visa policy for residents of nearby Zhuhai, in Guangdong province.
Such measures took effect on January 1. China’s National Immigration Administration on Tuesday said it had observed a “notable” year-on-year increase in the number of Macau-bound visitors from Zhuhai since that date.
The body said that since January 1, there were 257,000 Macau-bound trips made by Zhuhai residents, up 26.1-percent year-on-year.
