The number of visitors arriving in Macao totalled 2,213,807 in May – a decline of 2.6 percent compared to April.
Same day visitors, who spend less per head than overnight visitors, increased by almost 2.5 percent, from 1,097,594 in April to 1,124,977 in May. But they passed even fewer hours in Macao, nearly halving their average trip lengths from 8 hours (0.3 days) in April to 4.8 hours (0.2 days) in May, according to figures from the Statistics and Census Service.
Overnight visitors, who injected 12.3 billion patacas into the economy in the first quarter of 2023, fell by almost 7.5 percent from 1,176,456 in April to 1,088,830 in May. The city was unable to entice them to stay longer, with average lengths of stay remaining level at 2.2 days.
[See more: Macao wants more international visitors, tourism chief says]
Macao’s dependence on its largest source market, mainland China, became heavier last month, with the number of mainland Chinese visitors increasing from 1,386,944 in April to 1,474,304 in May – a rise of more than 6 percent.
Visitors from Hong Kong fell by almost 20 percent, from 745,282 to 601,991, in spite of a promotion that offered free return tickets to anyone arriving from Hong Kong by ferry or bus.
Arrivals from Taiwan also declined from 33,295 to 31,537 – a more than 5 percent fall.
Of the total visitors, 2,107,832, or 95.2 percent, came from Greater China, meaning that less than 5 percent of visitors to Macao in May were foreign in spite of efforts by tourism authorities to lure more medium- and long-haul visitors to the territory.
