The Macau government has confirmed the city welcomed more than 28 million visitors in full-year 2023, a daily average of nearly 77,300, according to data published on Monday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
The 28.21 million figure represented a recovery to about 70 percent compared to 2019, the last trading year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
The number of mainland visitors rose by 273.1 percent year-on-year to just below 19.05 million, accounting for 67.5 percent of the full-year tally.
About 7.20 million visitors originated from Hong Kong in 2023, representing 25.5 percent of the aggregate figure, while international visitors accounted for 5.2 percent, at nearly 1.46 million.
The numbers of mainland, Hong Kong, and international visitors in 2023 recovered to 68.2 percent, 97.8 percent and 47.6 percent of the corresponding levels in 2019, stated the statistics bureau.
In 2023, overnight visitors reached nearly 14.23 million, an increase of 472.7 percent from the previous year. Such visitors accounted for 50.4 percent of aggregate arrivals last year.
The average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.2 day year-on-year to 1.3 days, with that of overnight visitors (2.3 days) dropping by 1.1 days, said the statistics bureau.
Visitor arrivals to Macau were just above 2.94 million in December, up 656.0 percent year-on-year and 13.9 percent month-on-month, showed the data.
The number of visitors from mainland China rose by 483.0 percent year-on-year to 1.96 million in December, accounting for 66.7 percent of all arrival in the month.
Hong Kong visitors (686,441) and international visitors (238,611) soared by respectively, 1,501.6 percent and 7,223.8 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics bureau.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, said last week that for the whole of 2024, Macau aims for “33 million” visitor arrivals, or circa 17 percent more than in 2023. A tally of 33 million would represent an 84-percent recovery in the visitor market relative to 2019, when the city recorded circa 39.4-million arrivals.
