CNY Golden Week Holiday Arrivals Smash One Million Barrier

According to preliminary statistics, Macao welcomed over 1.21 million visitor arrivals (non-resident employees and students excepted) during the seven-day Spring Festival Golden Week of Mainland China (4^th to 10^th February), representing 26.6 per cent increase on the corresponding period of the previous year. MGTO also took advantage of Golden Week to predict visitor flows by leveraging smart technology, with forecasts basically in line with actual visitor flows.

Surprise double-digit growth

During the Spring Festival, visitors from the Greater China markets increased by 27.3 per cent year-on-year to a record 1.15 million, accounting for 95.1 per cent of total visitor arrivals, of whom 899 thousand visitors came from Mainland China, accounting for 74.1 per cent of total visitor arrivals, a 25.6 per cent increase.

The number of Hong Kong visitors topped 231 thousand with an increase of 34.8 per cent, while Taiwan region visitor arrivals increased 23.8 per cent to nearly 23 thousand. International visitor arrivals rose by 14.2 per cent year-on-year to 59 thousand.

Visitor arrivals during Golden Week surpassed earlier projections, registering double-digit growth, attributed mainly to favourable factors including the inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HKZM Bridge), which accounted for a strong increase from Macao’s two major visitor source markets (Mainland China and Hong Kong).

Buoyant arrival figures were aided by favourable weather conditions during the Spring Festival period, a kaleidoscope of spectacular festive events, newly launched tourism and entertainment complexes, and heightened festive atmosphere.

Average occupancy rate up, average room rate down

Existing hotels and guesthouses currently provide 40109 rooms in Macao. Industry figures reveal that local hotels and guesthouses registered an average occupancy rate of 96.7 per cent during Golden Week, up 2.2 percentage points from last year.

According to figures provided by industry operators, the average occupancy rate of 5-star, 4-star, 3-star and 2-star hotels was 97.6, 95, 98.6, and 87.3 per cent, respectively, while the average occupancy rate of guesthouses reached 81.1 per cent.

The average room rate of hotels and guesthouses in Macao dipped 1.7 per cent to MOP1917.8 during Golden Week, with average room rates for 5-star, 4-star, 3-star and 2-star hotels MOP2153.6, MOP1599, MOP1510.9 and MOP1284.9; guesthouses maintained the same average room rate as last year at MOP879.9.

Big data predicts visitor flows for first time

During Spring Festival Golden Week MGTO tested the smart application for visitor flows throughout various tourist districts, with results basically in line with actual visitor flows. MGTO will slightly adjust its smart application for visitor flows based upon these test results.

Furthermore, MGTO will hold another meeting with the Public Security Police Force in due course to exchange information on the smart application and co-ordinating crowd safety management measures imposed by the Police Force and smart application for visitor flows of MGTO.