Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has reported that arrivals to Macau in April rose by 5% month-on-month to almost 795,000 visitors.
It’s also a 7000% increase compared to the same period in 2020, as well as the largest number of visitors since the start of the pandemic in February last year. However, the visitor count is still lower than the 3.43 million recorded in April 2019.
The average length of stay of visitors was 1.6 days, with the number of overnight visitors increasing by 11% to 450,579; 92% of the visitors were from mainland China, 57,000 came from Hong Kong, and 7,000 traveled from Taiwan.
Mainland China started a travel bubble with Macau, which allows the regions to sidestep some of the travel restrictions during the pandemic; 300,467 visitors used the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in April after the program was put on hold as Covid-19 outbreaks got worse and resumed in September 2020.
For the first four months of 2021, the total visitor count in Macau declined 22% year-on-year to 2.5 million. Authorities estimate the summertime might see the average daily visitor count go up to 30,000.
Currently, the casino industry, which used to invite a lot of traffic through players, is still facing strict restrictions. But Macao Government Tourism Office Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, has said the tourism office is planning to attract more visitors to Macau through various non-gaming activities.
One of the attractions could be the newly opened entertainment facilities in the city’s casino complexes, such as Studio City’s Water Park. The Grand Prix Museum could be another tourist spot, as its soft opening saw 6,000 guests, and the venue will be officially open next month.
Macau also has plans to relocate and re-open a wine museum, although the gaming hub has long since discussed diversifying its offering – and gaming remains king.
