MACAU, CHINA. Total visitor arrivals to Macau grew by +101.3% year-on-year in January to 1,397,748, according to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
It is the first month in which tourism numbers have passed one million since the pandemic forced the Asian gaming hub to close its borders in 2020.
The surge in visitor arrivals was boosted by the easing of entry restrictions and the Lunar New Year holidays.
Visitor numbers from the Chinese Mainland, the key source market, increased by +54.5% year-on-year to 991,641. Of that number, 707,360 travelled under the Individual Visit Scheme, an increase of +321.6% from the same period in 2022.
Macau also saw 356,958 visitors from Hong Kong, up by +704.3% year-on-year, while those travelling from Taiwan reached 18,868, a +139% year-on-year rise.
January visitor arrivals recovered to about 39% of the numbers in pre-pandemic February 2019. In that month, the Special Administrative Region attracted 3,545,701 visitors, of which 2,559,144 were from the Chinese Mainland. ✈
