The number of visitors to Macau falls between January and May

Tourism director Jose Manuel Costa Antunes, who spoke at the MGTO Annual Marketing Meeting, said that between January and May Macau received 8.9 million visitors, 1.9 million of which came from outside of China, according to news agency MacauNews.

Costa Antunes spoke to the press and said that he expects Macau to register 20 million visitors this year, a drop of around 10 %, when compared to 22.9 million visitors in 2008. "The worldwide tourism industry faces the challenges of the global economic crisis and of the outbreak of A H1N1, which the Macau tourism industry cannot avoid," he said.

During the meeting, where tourism operators and people from the MGTO in 17 countries and territories were present, Costa Antunes gave a presentation about the current situation of the industry and announced strategies to promote Macau.

Costa Antunes said that the main tourist markets for Macau were mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. He revealed that Macau registered an increase in visitor numbers from the following regions: Hong Kong (0.3 %), Japan (8.7 %) and Thailand (14.9 %), in the first five months of the year.