Non-gaming tourism and economic diversification will be a key topic of discussion at speaker meetings and panels during the three-day gathering.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes
The strong performance over the four-day period will help to make up for a disappointing May, when tourist volumes fell.
Foreign arrivals have more than doubled, which is welcome news to tourism officials seeking to reduce Macao’s heavy dependence on the mainland Chinese tourism market.
The three-day event, open to the Singaporean public, aims to promote Macao as both a leisure and a MICE destination.
The MGTO’s Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes says the territory wants to work with airlines that fly into Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to bring tourists to Macao.
The government says it is working on a scheme that will allow passengers arriving in Hong Kong to pick up their bags on the other side of the estuary – as well as avoid Hong Kong immigration.
The total number of guests from Macao’s biggest markets, mainland China and Hong Kong, also posted sharp increases.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the head of the Macao Government Tourism Office, says average daily visitor totals are now at about 50 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.
Mainland Chinese are the biggest spenders, followed by tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong, with shopping topping the expenditure list.