Macau recorded just above 1.59 million visitor arrivals in February, up 143.1 percent year-on-year and 14.0 percent month-on-month, according to data released on Friday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
Macau cancelled with effect from January 8 most of its travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, dropping all testing requirements for inbound travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
According to Friday’s data, the number of visitors from mainland China in February grew by 64.8 percent year-on-year to just above 1.00 million, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (634,538) surging by 222.9 percent. The aggregate number of mainland visitors was up 1.2 percent sequentially.
The number of visitors from Hong Kong (523,271) and Taiwan (22,411) rose by 1,163.7 percent and 372.6 percent year-on-year, respectively.
The data showed that overnight visitors (843,402) and same-day visitors (750,341) increased by 201.8 percent and 99.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Macau is seeking to expand meaningfully the percentage of overseas visitors from beyond the 2.2 percent achieved in January, with the help of stepping up direct air services, said on Wednesday the director of Macao Government Tourism Office, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes.
In February, visitors from overseas accounted for 2.8 percent of overall arrivals to Macau.
In the first two months of 2023, the number of visitor arrivals expanded by 121.6 percent year-on-year to circa 2.99 million, showed the data. The two-month tally accounted for 52.5 percent of total arrivals in 2022.
In full-year 2022, Macau recorded a total of 5.70 million visitor arrivals, down 26.0 percent year-on-year. The 2022 tally was the lowest number of annual visitor arrivals to Macau since 1999, showed official figures.
Two representatives of Macau’s travel trade said in recent comments to GGRAsia that the city could reasonably expect a daily average of “60,000 visitor arrivals” even before the upcoming mainland-China Labour Day holiday at the start of May, against the backdrop of better-than-expected recovery in tourism.
