The number of visitors arriving to Macau dropped by 16.8% year-on-year to about 2.85 million in January due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
While visitor numbers for February are set to exhibit a far greater decline when published later this month, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) revealed a nascent downtrend in visitation in January as visitors from mainland China decreased by 14.9% to around 2.13 million people. Travelers under the individual visit scheme (IVS) also fell by 14.4%, although visitors from Zhuhai and Guangzhou province rose by 9.3% and 14.4% respectively.
Tourists from South Korea also declined by 56.6%, while from the United States, Australia, Canada and United Kingdom combined for a decrease of more than 20% decrease.
The average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses in January was around 80%, down by 13.5% year-on-year. Five-star hotels recorded an occupancy rate of 80.4%, representing a decrease of 14.5%.
About 1 million guests stayed in Macau hotels in January, down by 11.4%, although the average length of stay grew up by 0.1 nights to 1.5 nights, with 78.9% of visitors checking into hotels and guesthouses.
Travel agencies reported a 74.1% decline in package tour visitors year-on-year in January.
