Macao saw more than 270,000 visitor arrivals during the initial two-days of the Labour Day holiday, which falls between 1 and 5 May. This figure represents an increase of almost 39 percent year-on-year, according to provisional data released by the government.
Officials say there were almost 122,000 visitor arrivals on 1 May and nearly 151,000 tourists in the city on 2 May. The figures concur with the forecasts that were made by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), which predicted that there would be a daily average of 130,000 visitors arriving in Macao.
Hotels in Macao registered an occupancy rate of over 90 percent during the two days, in line with industry predictions.
Although Labour Day is just a one-day holiday in Macao, it is the occasion for a three-day break on the Chinese mainland – the SAR’s biggest tourism market. When added to the weekend, it creates a five-day tourism surge.
[See more: Macao expects 130,000 visitors during the Labour Day break]
The owner of one souvenir store told TDM that he expected his daily business volume to increase by 10 percent during the holiday period.
Areas traditionally overlooked by tourists have also seen a small increase in business, according to Ieong Weng Kuong, the deputy chair of the Industry and Commerce Association of Macau Northern District, who spoke to TDM.
“Perhaps because of the rain, the increase [in business] hasn’t been that apparent,” he said, but he nevertheless noted that “There has been roughly a 5 to 10 percent increase.”
In order to attract more visitors during the Labour Day break, MGTO and the Economic and Technological Bureau (DSEDT) have organised activities and promotional events, including a bus tour of the famous Guia Circuit and meet and greet events in the northern suburbs with Macao’s tourism mascot Mak Mak.
