Macau: Tourism office says 896,847 Golden Week visitors

The MGTO figures differ slightly from statistics released by the Public Security Police  earlier this week, according to which Macau recorded 901,176, up 6.16 % year-on-year.

According to the MGTO statement cited by The Macau Post Daily, mainlanders accounted for 80.6 % of the total number of Golden Week visitors. The statement put the increase in the number of mainland visitor arrivals at 12.1 %.

The statement also said that in the wake of the mainland’s new tourism law, which took effect on October 1 and bans so-called “zero-fare tours,” the number of mainland visitors at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal dropped 11.8 % year-on-year during the Golden Week holiday. 

According to the statement, the number of visitors from the mainland at the Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal decreased 27.58 %, while the number of mainland arrivals at the Inner Harbour Ferry Terminal was down 33.13 %.

The statement pointed out that most mainland tour groups arrive in Macau via Hong Kong from Shenzhen. Three- to five-star hotels’ average occupancy rate during the Golden Week holiday stood at 88.71 %, an increase of just 0.21 percentage points from a year earlier.

Room rates for three- to five-star hotels rose 11.04 % year-on-year to an average of us$ 237.6 during the weeklong holiday. On average, guesthouses’ rooms rates rose 16.83 percent to us$ 75.6, while five-star hotels's rates averaged us$ 293 a night.