Macau’s daily visitor arrivals recorded a new high of 96,000 on last Friday (18 March), marking a continuous recovery of Macau’s gaming and tourism sector. The number of Hong Kong tourists recovered to above 80% in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, while the number of mainland tourists also returned to 50%. But the proportion of international tourists remained relatively low, which is related to the limited number of international flights in Macau
According to Mr Fang Xiao Jian, Director of Marketing at the Macau International Airport, the current number of flights has returned to 70% in 2019, and the number of passengers has returned to about 40%.
The Macau Tourism Office’s deputy director, Mr Hoi Io Meng, said that the travel offer for Hong Kong visitors that was due to expire at the end of this month will be extended for a period of three months, while Air Macau’s promotional offer of ‘buy one get one free’ for mainland visitors will be extended to international routes such as Singapore and South Korea, in order to attract more international travelers.
According to Mr Fang Xiao Jian, currently average daily visitor arrivals to Macau’s flights have rebounded to nearly 10,000, and the number of flights to Southeast Asia will be restored on next Sunday (26th). In addition, the Macau Airport has successively received applications from Southeast Asian airlines such as Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam; in South Korea, Jin Air will re-open to Seoul by the end of April, and Jeju Air will also maintain communication; Taiwan’s TigerAir is planning to resume service to Macau in July, initially with two flights a day. In terms of new routes, airlines from Maldives and Bolu have also applied, with Maldives set to open in Q3.
Macau’s total visitor arrivals from January to February exceeded 2,990,000, with 1,990,000 from mainland China, 880,000 from Hong Kong, 41,000 from Taiwan and 74,000 from other visitors. The number of visitors continued to improve in March. Average daily visitor arrivals for the first 22 days were 65,000, compared with an increase of 13.4% in February.
In terms of hotel occupancy rates, for the first two months of the year, the average occupancy rate of Macau hotels was 74%, an increase of 27.9 ppts compared to the same period last year. The Macao Government Tourism Office continued to cooperate with airlines, e-commerce platforms and online travel agencies to offer discounts on air tickets and accommodation to mainland tourists.
