Macau’s Public Security Police Force (PSP) announced Monday night that more than 150 million departures and arrivals had been made so far this year, reaching the figure almost two months earlier than in 2023.
According to the figures, as of 16 September there were 54.2 million departures and arrivals by Macau residents alone, accounting for 36.1% of the total, while there were 42 million entries by foreign employees, accounting for 28.1%.
Visitor arrivals were 31.98% higher than in 2023 when there were 24.7 million arrivals.
The Border Gate remained the busiest control point in Macau with 79.1 million departures and arrivals, accounting for 52.75% of the total, followed by the Qingmao Port and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, with 24.8 million and 18.2 million departures and arrivals respectively.
Since the reopening of Macau and mainland China’s borders in January 2023, the mainland government has gradually relaxed its immigration policies, including opening up “Northbound Travel for Macau Vehicles”, expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) to 10 new mainland cities, and allowing Hengqin-Macau tour groups to make multiple trips between the two locations within a seven-day period.
The impressive figures come with this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday seeing strong visitation for Macau, including 125,314 arrivals on Sunday and 124,261 on Monday, according to police data.
