Visitor arrivals in Spring Festival Golden Week surge 4.7% to over one million Greater China and international markets thrive with strongest growth in Taiwanese market

Spanning seven days from 7 to 13 February, Spring Festival Golden Week has come to an end. According to preliminary statistics, Macao recorded a total of 1,076,611 visitor arrivals during the period (with non-resident workers and students, etc. taken into account), up 4.7% over the corresponding period last year. Strongest surge in Taiwan market During Spring Festival, visitors from the Greater China market went up 4.7% year on year to one million, which accounted for 94.4% of the total visitor arrivals. Among them, nearly 800,000 visitors came from Mainland China, which accounted for 73% of total arrivals, a 4.3% increase. Taiwanese visitor arrivals spiked up 42.7% — the most among all markets — to a record of 24,000; whereas the number of Hong Kong visitors surpassed 190,000 with an increase of 2.6%. On the other hand, visitor arrivals from international markets climbed up 4.4% year on year to 60,000. Hotel occupancy rates rise Up to date, the room supply of all hotels and guest houses has reached 33,047 in Macao. Industry figures reveal that three- to five-star hotels registered an average occupancy rate of 93.4% during the golden week, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percentage points. Five-star hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 96.2%, up 2.9 percentage points; four-star hotels registered 92.6%, up 8.5 percentage points; three-star hotels 91.4%, up 6.2 percentage points; two-star hotels 78.7%, up 4.8 percentage points; guest houses 75.6%, slightly up 1.6 percentage points. Star hotel room rates decline The average room rate of three- to five-star hotels in Macao dropped 17.2% to 1,672.7 patacas during the golden week. For five-star hotels, the average room rate went down 12.2% to 2,150.5 patacas; for four-star hotels, down 15.7% to 1,455.6 patacas; for three-star hotels, down 25% to 1,412.1 patacas; for two-star hotels, down 9.1% to 981.6 patacas; for guest houses, slightly up 1.7% to 738.2 patacas. Before and during Spring Festival, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) actively got prepared for the peak period with a variety of measures adopted as follow: operation of tourism notification system, more scrupulous inspections, reminders sent to trade about various concerns, food guide publication and distribution as well as an array of mega celebrations rolled out during Lunar New Year, etc. The above measures were done to cater to what local residents and visitors need, as well as optimize tourism environment and service quality. Room rates of local hotels and guest houses under different room categories are regularly posted on MGTO’s website for visitors to have the latest information on hand. Via mobile text message and WeChat, the Office also advised visitors to arrange their accommodation and itinerary in advance before their trip to Macao, and to visit popular local attractions at off-peak hours during their stay. Such reminders were sent to divert visitors from crowded areas. Personnel were also stationed at ten tourist spots around town to provide tourism information and guidance for visitors while assisting in crowd management. MGTO and Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province put their “Tourism Notification System for Spring Festival Golden Week” into operation between 7 and 13 February. The Office also collaborated with relevant departments and tourism reception entities to facilitate hospitality work for visitors during Spring Festival Golden Week. During the golden week, MGTO conducted 86 inspections at various border ports and tourist spots, and sealed one apartment allegedly operated as illegal accommodation. MGTO’s Tourist Information counters and tourism hotline service both operated as usual during the holidays. MGTO’s tourism hotline 2833 3000 maintained its 24-hour operator service to answer visitors’ enquiries. During Chinese New Year, MGTO received a total of 26 complaints, assistance requests and enquiries from visitors concerning public transportation (taxi and bus), shopping, tour guide, hotel, dining, public facility, tourist attraction and so on. MGTO has followed up with or transferred the cases to relevant entities for settlement.