Macau visitor arrivals in January doubled year-on-year, reaching nearly 1.4 million, but a tourism scholar says that Macau is still only likely to see half of the yearly pre-pandemic visitors this year.

The Philippines is aiming to nearly double the number of tourists it welcomes in 2023, hoping to attract some 5 million foreign visitors.

Macau has changed its quarantine requirements for visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other foreign countries, adjusting to a five-day quarantine rather than a seven-day quarantine. The measure came into effect on November 12th.

As of 5 pm on February 14th, Macau has received 877k tourists, with the hotel occupancy rate reaching 97 percent this week.

In a recent update on Thailand's tourism landscape, Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol reported that more than 600,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country during the initial week of the new year, with Chinese tourists leading the influx.

The number of licensed junkets in Macau has fallen drastically, halving from the previous 36 to just 18. The figure is a far cry from the maximum of 50 junkets the authorities in the SAR will allowin 2024. The drop comes as Macau aims to shift to a mass market model, and attract more foreign visitation, taking the focus away from mainland Chinese punters.

The Philippines aims to draw in 7.7 million international visitors in the coming year, surpassing its arrival goals for 2023, as stated by the Department of Tourism (DOT) on Tuesday.

Royal International Corporation (RIC), the operator of the Royal Casino Halong Hotel, reported almost VND18.5 billion (US$754,000) in losses in the third quarter of this year, a 6.6 percent year-on-year jump, VNExpress reported.

Gaming and tourism hubs within Southeast Asia are struggling to attract Chinese customers, with sharp drop-offs in the numbers of visitors from the source when compared to 2019. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are all suffering from less outbound Chinese tourism, with lower spending being attributed to an economic slowdown and safety concerns.

Efforts to entice Chinese travelers back to Southeast Asian countries, including visa-free travel initiatives, have not yielded the expected results, posing a threat to the tourism-dependent economies of these nations and prompting some businesses to rethink their expansion strategies.