Macao welcomed around 520,000 visitor arrivals during the Easter break between 18 and 21 April, up by 28.1 percent year-on-year. That’s according to data from the Public Security Police (PSP) cited by local media outlets.
By individual days, Good Friday recorded roughly 119,000 visitor arrivals. On Holy Saturday, the total surged to approximately 161,000 before falling to around 140,000 on Easter Sunday.
Most of the travellers that visited Macao during the four day holiday originated from mainland China, with the 327,000 visitor arrivals from this market accounting for 62.9 percent of the total share. The 146,000 Hong Kong residents that journeyed to Macao made up 28 percent of the arrivals, while the 10,000 Taiwanese visitors accounted for 2 percent.
As for international visitors, 37,000 were also recorded during this period, making up 7.1 percent of the tourist numbers.
Overall, some 2.82 million entries and exits – by locals and visitors – were made through Macao’s various checkpoints over the long Easter weekend, a figure that represents a jump of 14.6 percent year-on-year. The Border Gate accounted for 49.7 percent of the total crossings made. This was followed by the Qingmao Port (15.5 percent), the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) (15 percent) and Hengqin Port (11.6 percent).
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Looking at tourist data only, the Border Gate was the preferred checkpoint, used by some 200,000 travellers. This was followed by the HZMB (144,818 people), Hengqin Port (70,613 people) and the Taipa Ferry Terminal (34,816 people).
Vehicular traffic along the HZMB was particularly busy during Easter, as mainland government data cited by local media revealed that over 429,000 cars made inbound and outbound trips via the Zhuhai Port on Thursday and Friday, up by 76.54 percent year-on-year.
The number of inbound vehicular trips to Zhuhai Port also hit a new single day record on Thursday, reaching 145,000, a 141.67 percent surge in comparison to the same period last year.
The growth in visitor numbers this Easter has caught some in the tourism industry by surprise, with the head of the Travel Industry Council, Andy Wu, telling Macao Daily News that the daily average of around 130,000 arrivals greatly exceeded the initial forecast.
Local businesses also benefited from the surge in tourists, as one local souvenir shop owner told TDM that her estimated sales jumped by around 20 to 30 percent during the holiday.
