With only 4.5% of the total arrivals, the Macau overseas visitor ramp-up is still lagging behind expectations, according to Jose Wong Weng Chou, a scholar from Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST).
Speaking with AGB, Wong notes that Macau’s international links are still in the process of recovery, as the Macau aviation authority projected that Macau could only see pre-COVID volume in 2025 or 2026.
Jose Wong is the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at MUST. He considers that air ticket prices are still at very high levels, which has led to international travel being expensive. In this context, travel to Macau becomes less attractive.
Wong also acknowledged an imbalance in the proportion of star-rated hotels in the gaming hub compared to lower-tier options. He believes that there are currently too many five-star hotels and not enough three-star and four-star hotels, potentially affecting Macau’s appeal to certain types of tourists.
“Macau lacks the type of hotels that cost nearly MOP 500 ($62) per night,” he adds.
According to data compiled by the Macau Hotel Association, the average daily rate for a hotel room in Macau was MOP1,425 ($177) in the summer of this year, slightly higher by 5.14 percent compared to $1,355 ($168) in the same period of 2019.
Overseas visitors only represent 4.5 percent of total arrivals
According to the detailed analysis, Macau welcomed 22,685,476 visitor arrivals from January to October, with only 4.5 percent, or 1,021,612, being foreign visitors.
The figure shows that Macau has 75,000 visitors daily so far this year, meaning the city has recovered to nearly 70 percent of the daily average in 2019.
Macau authorities noted in a statement released on Wednesday that the number of foreign visitors has rebounded as well, with the daily number of visitors increasing from about 1,000 in January to more than 5,200 in October, a substantial increase of more than five times.
The Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, United States, Malaysia, and Singapore are the source markets with the most tourists visiting Macau this year.
Regarding the general source of visitors, the number of visitors from mainland China jumped by 244.2 percent year-on-year to 15,316,063.
Visitors from Hong Kong also increased by 1277.5 percent compared to last year to 5,951,111 in a month.
The Philippines, South Korea, and Indonesia are the only three visitor source markets, with the visitor tally surpassing 100,000 each from January to October.
Macau received 3,065,513 foreign visitors, which accounted for 7.8 percent of the total tally in 2019. Before COVID, Macau recorded 39.4 million visitors for the whole year.
Macau tourism authorities are working actively this year on international markets, as well as the Macau gaming operators. According to the report, Sands China has extended its promotional activities to Singapore, and Melco also brought its tourist offerings to its Manila properties early this year.
Sands China has extended its promotional activities to Singapore, and Melco also brought its tourist offerings to its Manila properties early this year.
