Macau has seen a slight dent in tourist numbers this April, compared to last month’s. However, the yearly total is still an overall increase when compared to the same period in 2023.
According to statistics from Macau’s Public Security Police Force, the number of arriving visitors to Macau in April 2024 is up to 8.5 million, a slight drop of 3.5% when compared to March 2024’s numbers of 8.8 million.
There was a slight decrease in Mainland China visitors, Hong Kong visitors and Macau residents, with numbers at 2.7 million, 1.6 million and 390,087 respectively in March but only up to 2.6 million, 1.6 million and 347,219 respectively in April of the same year. Taiwan visitors and foreign tourists, however, saw a slight increase in numbers; from 37,971 and 105,655 in March that rose to 43,474 and 108,000 in April.
All in all, though, the total yearly quarter is still a significant increase when compared to the same time period in 2023. Visitors from January to April in 2023 amounted to 25.7 million, while the number of visitors has increased 34.37% in January to April 2024, with a sum of 34.6 million.
The Macau Government has made it clear in a recent report that it plans to diversify into non-gaming sectors in its effort to boost its tourism industry, one of Macau’s main revenue sources.
Travelling policies such as the NIA’s new measures for mainland travellers and the 8 new cities under the FIT scheme benefit both gaming visitors as well as non-gaming visitors and business travellers.
Macau’s gaming revenue still saw a year-on-year increase, with its latest 26% increase in April this year, despite fluctuating tourist numbers and government plans to reduce dependency on gaming revenue.
