Visitor arrivals to Macau jumped 79.4% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to government statistics. The 8.9 million visitors amounted to 85.7% of arrivals in the first quarter of 2019.
Same-day visitors increased 107.5% to 4.8 million while overnight visitors grew 54.8% to 4.1 million. However, the average length of stay dipped slightly to 1.2 days.
Most visitors came from mainland China, with arrivals up 94.3% to 6.3 million. This included a 68.3% rise in visitors traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme to 3.5 million. Visitors from the nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area increased 74.9% to 3 million.
International visitors totaled 584,026, recovering to 68.2% of pre-pandemic levels. Tourists from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand all showed signs of recovery, while visitors from South Korea and Japan remained below half of their 2019 levels.
By entry point, land crossings surged 75.9% to over seven million visitors, with most using the Border Gate or Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Sea and air arrivals more than doubled from a year ago. Staff Reporter
