Visitation to Macau continues to surge in 2026, with the Public Security Police Force revealing that the total number of visitors had as of Saturday surpassed 20 million for the year.
This milestone has been reached 18 days earlier than last year, when Macau set an all-time record for visitor arrivals at 40.06 million.
According to information released by the Public Security Police Force late Saturday, the Macau SAR has welcomed an average of 116,000 visitors each day in 2026, up 10.2% compared with the same period last year. This included the highest ever daily visitation number of 248,000 on 2 May – the second day of the mainland’s “Labour Day” holiday period.
The 20 million arrivals so far in 2026 have comprised 14.6 million from mainland China, 3.46 million from Hong Kong, 541,000 from Taiwan and 1.26 million from foreign nations. Of the latter, 270,000 were from South Korea and 260,000 from the Philippines.
However, as noted by IAG, higher visitation has not necessarily translated to more gaming revenue given the high proliferation of “day-trippers” and Macau’s limited supply of hotel rooms.
In a recent note, financial research firm CreditSights observed that spending per capita had fallen 5% year-on-year to MOP$5,781 (US$716) in April, suggesting there were likely more non-casino goers and smaller spending punters within April’s visitor mix. Visitor arrival numbers were up by 11.3% to 3,441,396 in April.
