Light up Macao 2024 is held successfully
“Light up Macao 2024” (referred to as the “event”) has come to an end. Across districts and cultures from 2024 to 2025, the event sparked the charm of “tourism + events” in Macao and increased the flow of people into different districts, invigorating both the community tourism and nighttime economy.
Under the theme of “Symphony of Time and Space”, “Light up Macao 2024” brought together artists and design teams from eight UNESCO Creative Cities of Design — Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Nagoya (Japan), Mexico City (Mexico), Montreal (Canada) and Sydney (Australia) — as well as Macao, Hong Kong, Portugal and New Zealand. A splendid feast of light across time and space was created for 84 days, making memorable nights for residents and visitors on major festive occasions, including the Anniversary of the Establishment of the Macao SAR, Winter Solstice, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Chinese New Year, Chinese Lantern Festival and Valentine’s Day.
Through the mobile data provided by local telecommunication companies, MGTO collected statistics during the event and registered nearly 4.90 million spectators visiting installations and mapping show venues in the six districts from 7 December 2024 to 28 February 2025.
Delivering six subthemes under the main theme of “Symphony of Time and Space”, the event covered six districts as follows: “Pulse of the Future” in Praia do Manduco District, “Interlude of the Ocean” in Nam Van District, “Glorious Epoch” in Zona Nova de Aterros do Porto Exterior (NAPE), “Realm of Fantasy” in Northern District, “Fusion of Arts and Culture” in Taipa, and “Nostalgic Aura” in Coloane. 23 locations were dazzled by 31 installations including 6 flagship installations, 4 art installations, 12 light installations and 9 interactive installations. There were three themed mapping showsnamely “Create the Future”, “Connect” and “100 FUN” at the Front square of Macao Science Center (the façade of Macao Science Center)and Largo dos Bombeiros in Taipa (the façade of Cozinha Pinocchio Taipa) respectively. 1,008 sessions of mapping shows were staged in total at the two aforementioned locations.
At specific timeslots every Saturday during the event, 66 pop-up sessions enlivened designated locations, including giant inflatable doll, electronic keyboard performance, funny balloon show, parent-child workshop, cartoon painting, Mini band, parent-child drumming interaction, guitar show and electronic cello performance. The parallel activity “Luminescent Night at Travessa do Armazém Velho 2024” also took place during Light up Macao 2024. In addition to online games and offline workshops, Travessa do Armazém Velho and the vicinity were embellished with illuminations and infused with unique charm as night fell.
In accord with different visitor source markets, MGTO conducted a wide promotional campaign for the event on its official platforms on social media such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, Line and YouTube. International, domestic and Mainland KOLs were invited to spotlight the event in the form of live broadcast, graphic and written posts and short videos. Over 154 million impressions were garnered.
Following their visit to Light up Macao 2024, different KOLs all expressed positive feedback. Among them, Asian KOL Tomohiro Yamashita, who has 1.30 million followers, stated, “The whole city of Macao lit up with many different lighting art pieces and decorations! After visiting Macao for this event I got to know a whole new and different part of this amazing city, and now I'm in love with especially the local traditions and food culture.” Alvy Joanna, with 237,000 followers, shared, “The vibes of Light up Macao were unreal! Lights, art, and so much festive fun everywhere. Definitely a trip to remember.”
Organized by MGTO, Light up Macao 2024 was a collaborative project between different governmental entities and integrated resort enterprises with the aim to create a prestigious nighttime event and promote the concerted development of “tourism + events”. The co-organizers included Municipal Affairs Bureau, Economic and Technological Development Bureau, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Sports Bureau, Marine and Water Bureau as well as Macao Science Center. The event partners included Wynn Resorts Macau, SJM Resorts, S.A., MGM, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China Ltd.
MGTO expressed gratitude to residents and visitors for their support for Light up Macao 2024. In the future, the Office will be dedicated to organizing signature events to manifest Macao’s glamour of diverse “tourism +” and foster integrated development across tourism and the related sectors, in turn creating a better future for Macao’s tourism industry.
In 2025, MGTO will continue to work on different tasks vigorously, unfold a string of online and offline promotions near and far, organize different events and activities as well as invigorate community tourism. The endeavors aim to deepen integration across the sectors of “tourism +”, reinforce the contribution of the Greater China market and keep expanding international markets, to enrich Macao’s offerings as a world centre of tourism and leisure and brighten the city’s golden calling card as an international metropolis, in line with the strategic planning for adequate economic diversification.
