Macau received a total of 176.921 visitors on Thursday (May 1), the first day of the five-day mainland China holiday period surrounding Labour Day. The preliminary data was published by the city’s Public Security Police, the agency responsible for monitoring Macau’s immigration checkpoints.
That represented an increase of circa 64.0 percent compared to the number of visitor arrivals to Macau recorded on May 1 last year, according to data compiled by GGRAsia, based on official figures.
China’s State Council has designated this year’s Labour Day holidays on the mainland – Macau’s main feeder market – as May 1 to May 5 inclusive. Some commentators refer to the holiday period, as ‘May Golden Week’.
May 1 and May 5 are also public holidays in Hong Kong, Macau’s second most important market for inbound visitors.
Macau’s tourism boss Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said in recent comments that the city might receive as many as 140,000 visitors daily during the holiday break.
Macau recorded just above 9.86 million visitor arrivals in the first quarter this year, up 11.1 percent from a year ago, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. That translates to approximately 109,585 visitors daily in the three months to March 31.
