Macao welcomed around 257,000 visitors from Zhuhai between 1 and 14 January – a surge of 26.1 percent year-on-year. That’s according to data shared by the National Immigration Administration (NIA) during a press conference on Wednesday.
Officials attributed the “clear” increase to the new multiple-entry permits for Zhuhai and Hengqin residents, which were launched on 1 January.
With the new permits, Zhuhai residents can visit Macao once per week for up to 7 days. Hengqin residents meanwhile are allowed to visit the SAR as many times as they wish, although they too must adhere to the 7-day limit per visit.
NIA spokeswoman Lu Ning said that 59,000 “one trip per week” permits had been issued since 1 January, with the number of multiple-entry permits totalling over 6,000.
Lu noted that the travel scheme had been well-received by the SAR government and other sectors of the community since its implementation, adding that “the policy’s implementation further facilitates mainland residents’ travel to Hong Kong and Macao for sightseeing, shopping and consumption.”
[See more: New multiple-entry permits prove a boon for Macao’s tourism industry]
She also noted that such policies would further promote societal and economic development in the two cities, allowing both SARs to “better integrate into the nation’s overall development.”
Earlier this month, the head of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, revealed that the city’s daily visitor arrival rate had been averaging more than 100,000 following the introduction of the new travel permits.
The MGTO chief expressed confidence that the new policy would bring about an influx of mainland tourists during the Chinese New Year holiday period, which will kick off on 29 January.
Mainland China remains Macao’s number one source of visitors, with government data showing that 70.4 percent or 31.9 million of the city’s visitor arrivals between January and November of 2024 originated were domestic tourists. Of those, approximately 3.07 million visitors hailed from Zhuhai, according data from the Statistics and Census Service.
Although the government has not yet unveiled its visitor arrival target for this year, Macao exceeded the target of 33 million visitors in 2024, with the final tally hitting almost 35 million.
