Travel industry insiders say the government’s estimates of the number of visitors Macao can expect during the Labour Day Golden Week holiday is too conservative.
The Travel Industry Council of Macau’s chairperson, Andy Wu, told local media the daily average of 70,000 arrivals predicted by the government will “definitely” be exceeded.
His comments were echoed by Wong Fai, president of the Macau Leisure Tourism Services Innovation Association, who said that “a new single-day record of visitor arrivals since the onset of the pandemic” was “very likely”.
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The previous post-pandemic record was set on 18 March, when some 96,000 people arrived.
In the last year before the pandemic, 2019, more than 159,000 daily visitors were recorded in Macao during the Labour Day holiday period.
Macao’s travel industry has been gearing up for a big influx of tourists this weekend. Ferry operator TurboJet will be running up to 66 sailings a day to and from Hong Kong and Macao, while 17 out of 25 hotels polled for a recent survey say they are fully booked.
