The number of visitor arrivals to Macau in May rose by 25.3 percent year-on-year, to just above 3.37 million. The increase was led by a surge in the number of same-day trippers, show data from the Statistics and Census Service published on Friday.
May’s day-tripper volume grew by 39.2 percent year-on-year, to about 1.99 million. It accounted for 59.1 percent of the city’s aggregate for the month.
The number of overnight visitors last month grew by 9.4 percent from a year earlier, to nearly 1.38 million, according to the latest data. The average stay length of this type of visitor was 2.3 days.
The tally of visitors last month was supported by what investment analysts described as “robust” arrivals at the time of the five-day mainland China holiday period encompassing Labour Day on May 1.
Macau’s authorities said the daily average for arrivals during that early-May break – also known as ‘May Golden Week’ – topped 170,000. That resulted in more than 850,000 arrivals in aggregate across the holiday season.
Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) reached MOP21.19 billion (US$2.62 billion currently) in May, according to official data. The latest monthly figure was the highest monthly tally post-Covid-19, and was the first month this year above the MOP20.0-billion mark.
According to the official data, about 72.4 percent of Macau’s visitors in May – i.e., 2.44 million – were from mainland China, up 31.4 percent from a year ago. Mainlanders travelling via Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visas accounted for about 1.31 million arrivals, up 46.5 percent year-on-year.
In May, Macau received 232,211 visitors from international markets, up 25.6 percent year-on-year. The top three sources out of the international markets were the Philippines (57,018); South Korea (41,765); and Indonesia (16,149).
In the five months to May 31, Macau welcomed nearly 16.33 million visitors, 15.2-percent more than in the prior-year period.
Same-day visitors (9.57 million) and overnight visitors (6.76 million) grew by 26.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.
