The president of the Macau Tourism Association, Andy Wu, thinks there’s a strong likelihood visitor numbers will return to their pre-pandemic levels during February’s Lunar New Year, according to a report in Jornal Tribuna de Macau.
He believes the city’s hotels will be 90 percent full, the report says.
Meanwhile, prominent island business leader Yeong Keng Hoi told media that he expected the Lunar New Year holiday to deliver similar numbers as the recent Christmas break, when a post-pandemic record of 175,000 visitors came to Macao on New Year’s Eve.
[See more: Dates have been set for the Lunar New Year parades]
On 2024 as a whole, Wu also expressed optimism. He predicted that tourism would bounce back to 90 percent of 2019’s figures – meaning a total arrivals tally of 36 million for the year. Macao welcomed 28 million visitors in 2023, according to provisional data.
Wu also commented on changing trends in his industry, such as the increasing preference for independent travel among mainland Chinese, who are by far the largest group of tourists in Macao. He said that only 20 percent of visitors currently visit Macao as part of group tours – significantly less than in the years before the pandemic.
Wu said the industry aimed to encourage more group travel, as well as expand Macao’s sources of international visitors.
