1.4 million visitors to Macau in January

Macau Business. 20 February 2023. Newsdesk.

The number of visitor arrivals in January 2023 surpassed the one million tally for the first time in three years, as the city’s tourism industry benefited from the lifting of pandemic restrictions and the Lunar New Year holidays.

The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported that the city welcomed 1,397,748 tourists, which was double the figure from a year ago and 259 percent more than in December 2022.

Visitors from mainland China increased by 54.5 per cent year-on-year to 991,641, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme surging by 321.6 per cent to 707,360, DSEC added. Visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan also experienced significant year-on-year growth, with 356,958 and 18,868 visitors, respectively, representing an increase of 704.3 per cent and 139 per cent.

Macau saw 5.7 million visitor arrivals in 2022, accounting for just 14.5 per cent of the pre-COVID 2019 figure when it reached a record high of 39.4 million tourists.