Macau Oct visitor tally 600,000 plus: tourism boss

Nov 06, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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The director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) told local media on Friday that the city had seen “over 600,000” visitor arrivals for October, according to its preliminary count.

If confirmed, the number would mark at least a 34-percent increase on the September visitor-arrival tally, which stood at 449,085.

The city’s Statistics and Census Service is due to announce the official October tally later this month.  A total of 156,300 visitor arrivals was recorded for autumn Golden Week in early October, a major holiday period for residents of mainland China.

Tourism bureau boss Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes also said in her Friday remarks, she anticipated a “slight improvement” in the city’s visitor arrivals for the current month, as major events including the Macau Grand Prix motor racing meeting and Macau Food Festival were due to take place.

The official said currently Macau was welcoming “20,000 to 24,000” visitors a day.

Ms Senna Fernandes also mentioned that officials from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism were in Macau, assessing local countermeasures on Covid-19 infection, and observing the city’s tourism attractions.

The MGTO director said that she hoped the visit by the officials might be a contributory factor in the eventual resumption of package tours from the mainland to Macau – suspended since early this year – and thereby provide further support for the recovery of the city’s tourism trade.

In late October the ministry had said that businesses normally involved in, respectively, “inbound and outbound” package tours involving the mainland market; and bundled sale of “flights and hotels”, were “not to resume” such trade for now, due to concerns that Covid-19 might make a comeback in China during cooler months.

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