Almost a Million Visitor Arrivals Add Glow to Golden Week Holiday
Visitor arrivals from Mainland China, Taiwan region and Hong Kong all posted increases for the Golden Week Holiday
According to preliminary statistics provided by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Macao welcomed some 920,631 visitors during the eight-day 1st October Golden Week (non-resident employees and students have been excluded from visitor arrivals). A total of 696,636 visitors arrived from the Mainland throughout the eight-day holiday, constituting 75.7 per cent of all visitor arrivals to the territory in the period.
As the 1st October Golden Week holiday was seven days last year the comparison of numbers of visitor arrivals is only based on figures from the first seven days of this year's holiday. In comparison with the corresponding seven-day period of last year, total visitor arrivals from 1st to 7th October this year reached 844,522, for a year-on-year increase of 11.6 per cent, while visitor arrivals from Mainland China surged 9.6 per cent. Visitor arrivals from Taiwan region and Hong Kong surged 20.1 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively.
As of now, the room supply by local hotels and guesthouses has reached a total of 37,678 rooms. According to figures provided by travel industry operators, the average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels was 95.9 per cent, up 3.1 percentage points. Meanwhile, the average occupancy rate of 2-star hotels was 76.3 per cent, down 1.9 percentage points, with average occupancy rate of guesthouses down 1 percentage point to 74 per cent.
The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guesthouses) in Macao was about MOP1,829.8 during Golden Week, a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent. The average room rates of 5 and 4-star hotels were around MOP2,120.3 and MOP1,395.6, up 4.3 per cent and 13.1 per cent, respectively. The average room rates of 3 and 2-star hotels were around MOP1,375.1 and MOP1,129.1, an increase of 12.6 per cent and 50.9 per cent, respectively. The average room rate of local guesthouses was around MOP730, up 18.6 per cent.
During Golden Week, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) assigned inspectors to patrol various ports of entry and tourist spots in a scrupulous manner, with a total of 94 inspections conducted. The Office also conducted seven concerted actions with police authorities, inspected 56 premises and sealed four premises allegedly operated as illegal accommodation.