The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) announced on its website on Tuesday that Macau recorded 984,996 visitor arrivals during the mainland’s seven-day National Day Golden Week holiday period from last Tuesday to Monday this week, an 11.5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
According to the website, the city recorded 798,443 mainland visitors during the seven-day period, a year-on-year increase of 9.4 per cent. Mainlanders accounted for 81.1 per cent of all visitor arrivals during the October 1-7 period.
During the period, October 3 was the peak of visitor arrivals, when 163,810 visitor arrivals were recorded, a year-on-year increase of 12.4 per cent, according to the website.
October 5 recorded the highest year-on-year increase of visitor arrivals, at 21.9 per cent, when 163,370 visitor arrivals were recorded, according to the website.
According to the website, the last day of the Golden Week holiday period recorded the lowest number of visitor arrivals, at 78,918, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1 per cent.
The Barrier Gate border checkpoint was the most used by visitors among the city’s various checkpoints during the seven-day period – 589,037 visitor arrivals, which accounted for 59.8 per cent of all visitor arrivals.
HK visitors rise 43 per cent
According to an MGTO statement last night, the number of Hong Kong visitors increased 43.2 per cent year-on-year to around 136,000 while the number of Taiwan visitors dropped 4.7 per cent year-on-year to about 12,000 during the seven-day period.
Hong Kong continued to be hit by violent anti-government protests, rioting and vandalism during the National Day Golden Week. Tourism sector representatives told The Macau Post Daily that many Hong Kong citizens chose to visit Macau during the National Day and Chung Yeung holidays to escape the political unrest in their city.
The number of overseas visitors – visitors from “the international market” – decreased 16.2 per cent year on year to some 38,000 during the seven-day period, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Public Security Police (PSP) announced in a statement on Tuesday that they recorded four million entries and exits at the city’s eight border checkpoints during the seven-day National Day Golden Week holiday period – 1,993,980 entries and 2,011,462 exits, the statement said.
According to the Macau Post Daily, the entry and exit figures announced by the Public Security Police, who run the city’s immigration service, comprise local residents, visitors, non-resident workers and non-local students enrolled in Macau.
During the seven-day period, the police recorded 3,002,846 entries and exits at the Barrier Gate checkpoint, 291,919 at the Lotus Flower Bridge checkpoint, 234,750 at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) checkpoint, 164,799 at the airport, 146,304 at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, 114,849 at the Taipa Ferry Terminal, and 49,974 at the Zhuhai Macau Cross-border Industrial Zone checkpoint in Ilha Verde, and one at the Inner Harbour Ferry Terminal, whose normal operations have been suspended for several years.
The Gongbei border checkpoint – the mainland’s counterpart of Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoint – is the nation’s busiest land border checkpoint.
