Macau is poised to set in 2025 a new record for annual visitor arrivals, as year-to-date numbers had already reached 39.411 million as of 11am on December 27, according to preliminary figures from the city’s Public Security Police.
The year-to-date tally has already surpassed the 39.406 million visitor arrivals recorded in full-year 2019, the reporting period immediately preceding the Covid-19 pandemic and the previous record.
Visitor arrivals from January to November 2025 had already exceeded last year’s full-year figure of 34.9 million, according to official data.
Data disclosed by the police for year-to-date 2025 showed that Macau welcomed a daily average of around 109,000 visitors during the period.
Visitors from the Chinese mainland accounted for 72.4 percent of total arrivals, while those from Hong Kong represented 18.3 percent. Visitors holding travel documents from outside Greater China made up 6.8 percent of the total.
In a separate release, the police said that Macau welcomed 1,139,972 visitors during a nine-day period encompassing the Christmas season and other public holidays, from December 20 to 28 inclusive.
The data indicate that the average daily number of visitor arrivals during the period was approximately 126,700.
December 20 is a public holiday in Macau marking the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region.
Christmas is not a public holiday in Macau’s main tourist feeder market, mainland China, but it is an official holiday period in Hong Kong, the city’s second-largest source of visitors. December 26 is also a public holiday in Hong Kong.
The police did not provide a breakdown of visitors by place of origin during the nine-day period. However, the majority of tourists entered Macau via either the Border Gate checkpoint, which links the city with the Chinese mainland, or the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
In a third release, the police said that 2025 boundary checkpoint movements at the Hengqin port had, for the first time, already surpassed the 30-million per annum mark as of 1 pm on December 28. The data included entry and exit moments, and covered visitors and Macau locals.
The Hengqin port is the closest boundary checkpoint between Macau’s Cotai casino resort district and mainland China.
