Macau registered over a million tourists in January

More than a million tourists visited Macau in January, up 101.3% year-on-year and 259% month-on-month, according to the latest figures released this Monday.

In connection with the lifting of restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic and the celebration of the New Year according to the lunar calendar, the number of tourists (816,199) and sightseers (581,549) in total increased by 234.5% and 29.1% by 1,397,748 people respectively on an annualized basis. deadlines, the Office of Statistics and Censuses (DSEC) said.

The majority of visitors (991,641) still come from China, up 54.5% from last year. He pointed out that the number of visitors from Hong Kong (356,958) increased by 704.3%, and from Taiwan (18,868) by 139%.

China’s Special Administrative Region lost 33.7 million visitors last year compared to 2019’s record 39.4 million visitors.

But according to DSEC, the number of visitors in 2022 (5.7 million) also decreased by 26% compared to 2021.

In December, the number still decreased by 52.6% compared to the same month in 2021 due to border restrictions and a wave of covid-19 cases that reached mainland China, where the vast majority of visitors come from.

Macau followed China’s zero-covid policy until December, recording a decline in visitor numbers that had a major impact on the territory’s economic activity after several outbreaks in the region and on the continent.

Six casino operators in the region, MGM, Galaxy, Venetian Macau, Melco, Wynn and SJM, with already extended gaming concessions for another ten years, have accumulated unprecedented losses due to falling numbers of visitors, especially from China.

Gambling accounts for about 80% of government revenue and 55.5% of Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) in an industry that employs over 80,000 people, i.e. 17.23% of the employed population.