Nearly 38,000 international travelers took advantage of free bus and ferry tickets to visit Macau via Hong Kong in May, as the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) relaunched its transport discount scheme targeting foreign visitors.
MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced that more than 7,700 people claimed free bus tickets to travel directly from Hong Kong International Airport to Macau during the first month of the program, which runs until the end of 2025.
The initiative cost approximately MOP2 million ($248,500), with the top five visitor groups coming from Singapore, South Korea, India, Japan, and the Philippines.
An additional 30,000 international travelers already in Hong Kong utilized the free one-way ferry ticket offer to cross to Macau. Fernandes described the program’s performance as “quite effective” in strengthening Hong Kong-Macau joint tourism.
The scheme represents a relaunch of similar programs previously offered by MGTO. From January to August 2024, the tourism office partnered with Macau HK Airport Direct to provide complimentary bus tickets for eligible travelers. A separate ferry ticket program ran from February to July 2024 in partnership with TurboJET and Cotai Water Jet.
Macau is projected to welcome approximately 38 to 39 million visitors this year, approaching pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019. The Special Administrative Region recorded 2,423,093 international visitors last year, representing a 66 percent increase compared to the previous year.
MGTO has established a target of attracting 3 million foreign visitors in 2025.
