Visitor arrivals in Macao surge by 26.6% to exceed 1.21 million for the first time during Spring Festival Golden Week

Lasting from 4 to 10 February, the seven-day Spring Festival Golden Week of Mainland China has come to an end. According to preliminary statistics, Macao welcomed over 1.21 million visitor arrivals (non-resident employees and students excluded) during the Golden Week, up by 26.6% over the corresponding period of last year. MGTO also rode on the opportunity during the Spring Festival Golden Week to predict visitor flows through leveraging smart technology, with the forecast basically in line with actual visitor flows.

During the Spring Festival, visitors from the Greater China markets went up by 27.3% year-on-year to a record of 1.15 million, which accounted for 95.1% of total visitor arrivals. Among them, 899,000 visitors came from Mainland China, accounting for 74.1% of total visitor arrivals, a 25.6% increase. The number of Hong Kong visitors topped 231,000 with an increase of 34.8%, whereas Taiwanese visitor arrivals went up by 23.8% to nearly 23,000. On the other hand, international visitor arrivals rose by 14.2% year-on-year to a total of 59,000.

Visitor arrivals during this Golden Week had surpassed earlier projections, registering a double-digit growth, attributed mainly to favorable factors including the inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which brought a strong increase in Macao’s 2 major visitor source markets (Mainland China and Hong Kong), especially with an increase of over 30% in Hong Kong visitor arrivals, in addition to an increase of 14.2% in international visitors; favorable weather conditions during the Spring Festival period; the kaleidoscope of spectacular festive events, newly-launched tourism and entertainment complex and the festive atmosphere.

Up to date, the supply of all existing hotels and guest houses has reached a total of 40,109 rooms in Macao. Industry figures revealed that local hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) registered an average occupancy rate of 96.7% during the Golden Week, which increased 2.2 percentage points from last year.

According to figures provided by industry operators, five-star hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 97.6%, up by 1.7 percentage point; four-star hotels registered 95.0%, up by 0.6 percentage point; three-star hotels 98.6%, up by 6.5 percentage points; two-star hotels 87.3%, up by 2.4 percentage points; guest houses 81.1%, up by 3.5 percentage points.

The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) in Macao dropped by 1.7% to 1,917.8 patacas during the Golden Week. For five-star hotels, the average room rate decreased by 1.9% to 2,153.6 patacas; for four-star hotels, down by 2.3% to 1,599.0 patacas; for three-star hotels, down by 2.3% to 1,510.9 patacas; for two-star hotels, up by 7.8% to 1,284.9 patacas; for guest houses, which stood the same as last year at 879.9 patacas.

Smart application for visitor flows basically in line with actual conditions

During the Spring Festival Golden Week, MGTO tested the smart application for visitor flows at various tourist districts, with the results basically in line with the actual visitor flows. MGTO will then slightly adjust its smart application for visitor flows based on the test results. Furthermore, MGTO will conduct another work meeting with the Public Security Police Force in due time to exchange information on the smart application and coordinating on crowd safety management measures imposed by the Police Force and smart application for visitor flows of MGTO.

MGTO and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province smoothly operated their "Tourism Notification System for Spring Festival Golden Week" from 5 to 11 February, joining hands to achieve smooth hospitality for visitations between Guangdong and Macao during Chinese New Year.

During the Golden Week, MGTO conducted 75 inspections at various ports of entry and tourist attractions in Macao, without discovering any irregularities among tour groups. In addition, MGTO carried out 2 joint actions against provision of illegal accommodation together with the Public Security Police Force.

From the start of Lunar New Year up to date, MGTO received a total of 18 visitor complaints and assistance requests regarding taxi charge, service attitude, dining charge, noise, lost luggage, trip over and so on. MGTO has followed up with the cases or transferred them to relevant departments for settlement.