The figure marks a significant turnaround from the past three years, which have seen tourism numbers sharply deflated by COVID-related entry measures, strict testing and lockdowns.
Current expectations are for an average of 47,000 daily tourists during the CNY period, starting on January 22nd, with the SAR’s tourism authority already noting that on Saturday 55,000 tourists had entered the city, smashing previous visitation records during the pandemic period.
Tourists flow at St. Paul’s street on Saturday 14 January 2023
The head of the tourism bureau told TDM Canal Macau that “we won’t have 55,000 visitors every day, but we are still expecting an average of 47,000 visitors”.
Macau is averaging over 40,000 tourists, with expectations that the Chinese New Year holiday will bring in up to 60,000 at its peak.
Speaking of the group tours, the head of the tourism bureau lamented the lack of organized visitation, noting that “we still don’t have tour groups, we still haven’t received any updates (from mainland Chinese authorities) regarding that, and until we can resumre that form of travel than we might not be able to return to the levels we were seeing in 2019”. The mainland authorities have designated the CNY holiday period as running from January 21st to 27th, with estimates that up to 70 percent of hotel rooms, of the city’s supply of 44,000, are already reserved for the holiday period.
