Macau Jan. tourism arrivals jump 25 percent

Wednesday 27th of February 2019

Tourism arrivals to Macau jumped 25 percent in January from the previous year, according to government statistics.

The territory welcomed 3.4 million visitors, compared with 2.7 million in January 2018. The figure was down slightly from December, when arrivals totalled 3.5 million.

Same-day visitor arrivals were 1.7 million, up 41.8 percent from 1.2 million a year earlier, though again slightly lower than the figure recorded in December. Those arriving by land surged by almost 66 percent.

The average length of stay of visitors dropped by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days on account of a notable growth of 6.2 percentage points in the proportion of same-day visitors (52.1 percent).

Overnight visitors stayed an average of 2.2 days, up by 0.1 day; meanwhile, the average length of stay of same-day visitors held stable at 0.2 day.

Visitors from Mainland China increased by 29.9 percent to 2.5 million, making up the bulk of the arrivals. Most of those were from neighboring Guangdong Province at 1.1 million. Hunan and Fujian were the second and third-biggest Chinese source markets respectively.

The figures show an increase in arrivals from the Greater Bay area, which grew by 43.6 percent year-on-year, with visitors from Zhuhai surging 78 percent. The statistics office said 443,908 visitors had come across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

Analysts say that the increase won’t necessarily translate into a major boost for gaming revenue, as many of the daily arrivals will be from the grind mass market.