Macau experienced a substantial surge in visitor arrivals during October, marking a noteworthy recovery in the region’s tourism sector. According to data from the Statistics and Census Service, the total number of visitors reached 2,757,308, reflecting a remarkable year-on-year increase of 380% and a sequential increase of 19%.
Mainland China contributed significantly to this surge, with 1,949,510 arrivals, indicating a robust year-on-year increase of 280%. Meanwhile, visitors from the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta within the Greater Bay Area increased by 200%, totaling 951,079. Visitors from Hong Kong grew 1100% year-on-year, reaching 592,325 visitors, and visitor numbers from Taiwan increased 600% with 53,667 arrivals.
Regarding international arrivals, the Philippines held the highest number with 29,864 visitors, followed by Korea with 25,647.
The statistics also reveal a shift in visitor dynamics, with 1,451,703 same-day visitors and 1,305,605 overnight visitors in October. This represents a year-on-year increase of 440% for same-day visitors and 320% for overnight visitors.
The average length of stay for all visitors decreased slightly to 1.2 days, with overnight visitors staying an average of 2.3 days (a 0.9-day decrease) and same-day visitors increasing to 0.3 days (a 0.1-day increase).
Cumulatively for the first 10 months of 2023, the total number of visitor arrivals amounted to 22,685,476, reflecting a substantial year-on-year increase of 360%. Of this, 11,542,405 people were overnight visitors (up by 460%) and 11,143,071 were same-day arrivals (up by 290%).
The positive performance in October was attributed to a robust Golden Week holiday period at the beginning of the month, with an average of 932,365 visitors per day, representing 84% of pre-COVID levels.
The visitor growth helped Macau’s casino industry clock gross gaming revenue of MOP19.5 billion ($2.42 billion) in October, setting a new post-COVID record as it reached over 73% of the revenue levels seen in 2019.
According to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the October results have had a positive impact on the overall gaming revenue for the year 2023, bringing it to approximately MOP148.45 billion ($18.43 billion), or about 60% compared to pre-pandemic 2019. It is worth noting that the October record surpasses the previous post-pandemic high set in August, which stood at MOP17.2 billion ($2.13 billion).
