Not even the Directorate of Tourism Services expected almost half a million tourists in the Golden Week of Labor Day. Daily log on Sunday is one of the biggest ever
The director of Macau Tourism Services, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, had anticipated 70,000 visitors per day. Numbers that would already be good considering that the city only reopened the borders a few months ago. And if this result was good, the balance of the Golden Week in May is even better: 491,968 tourists entered Macau from Saturday, April 29th, to Wednesday, May 3rd.
The daily average was close to 100,000 visitors (98,393), more than triple last year’s numbers. The peak was reached on Sunday, when 133,911 visitors entered the Region. Number that rivals the best daily records ever. Wednesday, the last day of the festive period, recorded the lowest number of visits (53,298).
Busy borders
According to the balance in numbers, released early this morning by the Public Security Police Corps (PSP), the total movement of entries and exits at all border posts, in these five days, was 2,652,073 people.
The most used border post was Portas do Cerco, where 1,462,732 entries and exits were recorded. In second and third, far behind, were the Qingmao Migration Post (377,804) and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Border Post (310,837).
Note on movement at Macau International Airport, which slightly exceeded the figures recorded in 2019. Compared to 2019, the highest growth was obtained by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Border Post (59.1 percent), with the Post Hengqin border crossing also registered a huge increase (40.6 percent).
Macau at the top of destinations
Macau is the top destination for Chinese travelers in Asia through May 7, with bookings up 11 percent from pre-pandemic levels. The neighboring region of Hong Kong recorded a drop of 32 percent, according to information from ForwardKeys, a travel data analysis company, cited by Macau News Agency.
Something that may be justified, as ForwardKeys reported that bookings for air travel by mainland tourists are around 50 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
In mainland China, the most visited destinations during this Golden Week were the cities of Sichuan Province, Chengdu and Chongqing, and Hainan, Haikou and Sanya.
The firm also predicts that travel out of China will grow in the second half, as air connections recover. In its analysis, the firm indicates Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan as the destinations best connected with China.
