Macau’s tourism boss expects 130,000 visitors to the city daily during the mainland China holiday period surrounding Labour Day on May 1. That would put daily arrivals at a level higher than early April’s Ching Ming season, but about 23 percent below the nearly 170,000 daily for the latest Chinese New Year holiday period in February.
The forecast for the May-festivities – a five-day break – was given by the director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, in Thursday comments to local media on the sidelines of a public event.
If realised, it would represent circa 82 percent of the daily visitor arrival volume recorded for the Labour Day holiday season in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. A figure of 130,000 daily would however be circa 32 percent higher than what was achieved last year.
This year, the Labour Day holiday season is designated by China’s State Council as running from May 1, a Wednesday, to May 5, a Sunday, inclusive. Chinese New Year this time, was an eight-day break on the mainland.
Macau logged just below 98,400 daily visitor arrivals for Labour Day holiday season in 2023. On the mainland that ran for five days from April 29 to May 3 inclusive that year.
The same holiday season in 2019 was only four days on the mainland, and saw 636,644 visitor arrivals in total, or a daily average of 159,161, according to data from the tourism bureau.
