GGRAsia – Macau rejigs visitor data on Golden Week

Macau rejigs visitor data on Golden Week

Oct 14, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The actual number of visitors to Macau during the seven-day Golden Week holiday from October 1 to 7 stood at approximately 770,000 tourists. The figure excludes arrivals by Macau non-resident workers and by students that are not Macau residents, said on Thursday the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).

The tourism bureau had said earlier this week that the total number of visitors to Macau had reached 1.15 million tourists, during the Golden Week holiday, a festive period that encompasses China’s National Day on October 1. The numbers, based on data from the Public Security Police, included arrivals by Macau non-resident workers and by students that are not Macau residents.

The MGTO said it believes the revised figures “can better reflect the visitor arrivals situation during this period”.

Under the revised figures, the tourism bureau said the aggregate number visitor arrivals during the Golden Week period increased by 19 percent year-on-year to “a record” 770,000 tourists. The percentage increase quoted is based on a comparison with the 2015 Golden Week visitor tally net of travel by non-residents and students.

The number of visitors from Greater China increased to more than 720,000, accounting for 94 percent of the total visitor arrivals during the period, according to the revised data. There was also a 17-percent increase on the prior-year period in the number of mainland visitors. The MGTO however did not disclose the aggregate number of mainland tourists visiting Macao during the Golden Week period.