Macao has set a historic record for visitor arrivals this year, surpassing the total number of entries recorded in the whole of 2019, according to the Public Security Police (PSP).
In a statement released on its WeChat account, the PSP announced that as of 11 am on Saturday 27 December, Macao had registered 39.411 million visitor arrivals. The claim was reported by Macau Post Daily, which said the figure exceeded the previous record of 39.406 million, set in the year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 39.411 million arrivals recorded during this period represent a daily average of approximately 109,000 visitors. For context, calculations suggest the 2019 total was equivalent to a daily average of 107,962 arrivals.
[See more: The Christmas holiday period sees Macao’s visitor numbers soar past 724,000]
In terms of origin, mainland Chinese accounted for the majority of arrivals this year at 72.4 percent. Hongkongers represented 18.3 percent, and Taiwanese made up 2.5 percent, with foreign nationals accounting for the remaining 6.8 per cent.
The PSP also reported a separate border crossing milestone, with the Macao-mainland joint checkpoint on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island recording 30 million entries and exits this year as of 1 pm yesterday. This figure is up 32.6 per cent year-on-year and is the first time the 30-million mark has been hit.
The border crossing figures, managed by Macao’s immigration service, include local residents, visitors, non-resident workers (NRWs), non-local students enrolled in Macao, and others with special stay permits. Of the total crossings at the Hengqin checkpoint this year, visitors accounted for 38.9 per cent, local residents 26.9 per cent, non-local students 17.9 per cent, and non-resident workers 15.7 per cent.
