The more the merrier. China has announced the expansion of the facilitated individual travel (FIT) scheme to include eight mainland cities, effective from May 27, 2024.

The Chinese government has announced the inclusion of eight mainland cities into the facilitated individual travel (FIT) scheme for visits to Hong Kong and Macau, with the new measures set to take effect from May 27, 2024.

Macau's international visitor arrivals have already recovered to 68.2 percent of 2019 levels, with 584,026 foreign tourists received in the first quarter of 2024. The Philippines led the charge, with over 110K tourists.

Macau is still working on bringing more international visitors to improve the pace of its recovery. In the first quarter of the year, the city received 585,000 international visitors out of a total of 8.9 million visitor arrivals. This means international visitors accounted for only about 6.6 percent of the total visitors.

Macau’s GDP experienced a remarkable 80.5 percent year-on-year rebound last year, propelled by the flourishing tourism and gaming sectors.

Macau received 1.52 million visitors from the 9th to the 18th, while all the city’s checkpoints recorded over 5.8 million border crossings.

Extreme hotel price hikes during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday may no longer be a concern in Macau, given the increasing inventory and rational consumption trends.

Almost three million visitors entered Macau in December of last year, with strong growth being registered in all categories, according to official data.

Macau has set a goal to welcome 33 million visitors in 2024, a near 17 percent increase from 2023, as it expands it tourism offerings.

Macau’s tourism office sets a goal to draw 3 million international visitors this year by investing MOP 100 million ($12.4 million) to subsidize 100,000 international air tickets.   However, the industry had mixed reactions.