Visitor arrivals in Macao went up year-on-year by 9.9% to over 930,000 during Spring Festival Golden Week

Visitor arrivals in Macao surged by 9.9% during Spring Festival Golden Week

Spanning seven days from 27 January to 2 February, the Spring Festival Golden Week has come to an end. According to the preliminary statistics, Macao recorded over 930,000 visitor arrivals (excluding non-resident employees and students, etc.) during the period, up by 9.9 % over the corresponding period of last year.

During the Spring Festival, visitors from the Greater China markets went up by 10.8% year-on-year to a record of 880,000, which accounted for 94.4% of total visitor arrivals. Among them, 660,000 visitors came from Mainland China, accounting for 70.9% of total visitor arrivals, a 13.8% increase — the most among all markets of Greater China. The number of Hong Kong visitors reached nearly 200,000 with an increase of 5%, whereas Taiwanese visitor arrivals went down by 15.9% to a record of 20,000. On the other hand, international visitor arrivals decreased by 3% year-on-year to a total of 50,000.

Up to date, the supply of all hotels and guest houses has reached a total of 37,634 rooms in Macao. Industry figures reveal that hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) in Macao registered an average occupancy rate of 94.5% during the golden week, a slight year-on-year increase of 0.4 percentage points.

Five-star hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 95.5%, down by 0.7 percentage points; four-star hotels registered 92.8%, up by 0.2 percentage points; three-star hotels 96.2%, up by 4.8 percentage points; two-star hotels 83%, up by 4.3 percentage points; guest houses 75.9%, slightly up by 0.3 percentage points.

The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) in Macao dropped by 3.1% to around 1,800 patacas during the golden week. For five-star hotels, the average room rate decreased by 3.6% to around 2,080 patacas; for four-star hotels, up by 2.4% to around 1,520 patacas; for three-star hotels, up by 0.4% to around 1,460 patacas; for two-star hotels, up by 14.4% to around 1,160 patacas; for guest houses, slightly up by 0.1% to around 770 patacas.

Before and during the Spring Festival, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) actively prepared for the peak period by adopting different measures as follows: 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 celebrations rolled out during Chinese New Year, etc. The above measures were taken to cater to the needs of residents and visitors, as well as to optimize the tourism environment and service quality.

Room rates under different room categories reported by local hotels and guest houses are regularly posted on MGTO’s website for visitors to seize the latest information on hand. MGTO also advised visitors via WeChat to arrange their accommodation and itinerary in advance before their trips to Macao, and by mobile text message, suggested visitors to visit popular local attractions during off-peak hours in order to divert visitors from crowded areas. Personnel were arranged at ten different tourist spots 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 operationfrom 24 January to 3 February. The Office also collaborated with relevant departments and tourism reception entities to facilitate hospitality work for visitors during the Spring Festival Golden Week.

During the golden week, MGTO conducted 53 inspections at various ports of entry and tourist spots in Macao, and sealed two apartments 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 attend to visitor enquiries.

During Chinese New Year, MGTO received a total of 27 visitor complaints regarding public transportation (taxi and bus), shopping, tour guide, hotel, dining, service quality and so on. MGTO has followed up with the cases or transferred them to relevant entities for settlement.