Macao welcomed 3.66 million visitors in August, according to multiple media reports that cited preliminary data from the head of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes. When calculated on a daily basis, the figure represents around 118,000 visitors, which exceeds the roughly 117,000 registered in August 2019.
The arrival numbers for the July and August peak period meanwhile reached 6.69 million or an average of 108,000 visitors per day, a bounce back of 93 percent in comparison to 2019 figures.
With respect to international visitors, Senna Fernandes pointed out that there were 336,000 arrivals from this group in July and August, representing a recovery of 75 percent against 2019 rates. When compared to the same period last year, the figure marks an increase of 30 percent.
[See more: Visitor numbers grew almost 10 percent year-on-year in July]
The next busy period for visitor arrivals is expected to be during the National Day holidays that last from 1 to 7 October. Forecasts have yet to be made, although the MGTO head hopes that daily visitor arrivals over the holidays will hit 100,000.
Macao’s tourism industry has recovered substantially since the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions in early 2023.
The city expects to reach a total of 33 million visitors this year, 2 million of them from international markets. Although the overall figure is higher than those of the past few years, it still represents a roughly 15 percent decrease compared to the 39 million visitor arrivals in 2019.
