Macao Reports 9.8% Increase in Visitor Arrivals for 2018

The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has reported that total visitor arrivals went up by 9.8% to over 35.8 million in 2018.

Surpassing same-day visitor arrivals for three years in a row, overnight-stay visitor arrivals surged year-on-year by 7.2% to account for 51.7% of total visitor arrivals.

Total visitor arrivals grew by 9.8% to exceed 35.8 million in 2018, among which over 32.6 million visitors came from the Greater China markets, a rise of 11%. International visitor arrivals dropped slightly by 1.1% to 3.1 million and more.

Since the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on 24 October 2018, 1.05 million visitors entered Macao via the bridge, the port of entry which received the second largest number of visitors to Macao during the period.

Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan region remained Macao’s top three visitor source markets, all of which registered increases in visitor volume.

The city welcomed over 25 million Mainland visitors last year, up by 13.8%, with 41% of the visitors from Guangdong Province. The figure includes over 12 million individual visitors which constitute 48.6% of Mainland visitor arrivals. On the other hand, visitor arrivals from Hong Kong and Taiwan region rose by 2.6% and 0.1% respectively.

Korea continued to rank first among international markets, contributing over 810,000 visitors to Macao last year. Visitor arrivals from Japan and Philippines both exceeded 310,000, whereas visitor arrivals from the United States, the only long-haul market among the top ten visitor source markets, climbed by 8.3%.

Overnight-stay visitors exceeded same-day visitors for three years in a row. Preliminary data shows that overnight-stay visitor arrivals climbed by 7.2% to surpass 18.4 million, accounting for 51.7% of total visitor arrivals and exceeding same-day visitor arrivals for three years in a row since 2016. Same-day visitor arrivals, on the other hand, surged by a double-digit increase of 12.7% to exceed 17.3 million. The average length of stay of overnight-stay visitors rose by 0.1 day to 2.2 days, while that of all visitors to Macao stood at 1.2 days.

Preliminary figures indicate that the total of overnight guests at local hotel establishments increased by about 6% to 14 million last year. The average occupancy rate of local hotel establishments in 2018 topped 90%, a year-on-year increase of 3 percentage points and more. The average room rate of three to five star hotels was 168.8 US dollars, up by 7%.

Up to the end of 2018, there are 120 hotel establishments in Macao supplying a total of 40,109 rooms, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. The above includes 50 budget accommodation establishments supplying a total of 1,776 rooms.

Total visitor expenditure between January and September 2018 amounted to 29.8 billion US dollars, marking period-on-period growth of 11.9%.

Throughout the year, MGTO conducted 1,983 inspections on tourism professions and business establishments, and 1,877 inspections at ports of entry and tourist attractions. For measures against the provision of illegal accommodation, the Office carried out 1,379 apartment inspections and sealed 245 apartments, in addition to 463 joint actions with the interdepartmental task force. The Office also submitted the latest proposal of the regulations on operation of hotel establishments, besides actively following up with the amendments to the regulations on operation of travel agencies and tour guide profession, to refine the tourism laws and advance quality tourism development.

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