Macau’s visitor arrivals surged past 70,000 on Monday, by far the highest single day tally since COVID-19 border restrictions were first put in place in early 2020.
The 71,678 arrivals, including 39,394 visitors from mainland China and 27,768 from Hong Kong, came on the third day of this year’s Chinese New Year holiday – also known as Golden Week – and took the total number of holiday arrivals to 154,273, a 342% increase on the comparative day in 2020.
Macau had welcomed 32,554 visitors on Saturday, rising to 50,041 on Sunday according to data from the Public Security Police Force.
Arrivals from mainland China for the first three days of Golden Week combined were 84,505, up 163% year-on-year, while 59,721 came from Hong Kong, an increase of 2,840%.
The welcome surge in arrivals after three years of border closures and quarantine requirements comes after the government lifted all border restrictions on mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan visitors from 8 January, while foreigners are required only to provide a negative COVID-19 test result.
The Macao Government Tourism Office responded shortly after by suggesting visitor arrivals during Golden Week might reach 50,000 per day but Monday’s tally has already smashed those estimates.
Analysts have also revised their GGR estimates for the March 2023 quarter upwards, with investment bank JP Morgan describing its earlier forecasts post-opening as “a bit too conservative.”
