In the first half of 2012, Macau received a total of 13.6 million tourists, up by just 2.5 percent, Statistics and Census Bureau data shows. In May and June, the number of visitor arrivals actually dropped year-on-year. The same had happened in February.
“There will be overall growth in the visitor arrivals this year but it will not be like in the past, when the numbers grew by 10 or 12 percent,” Mr Antunes told reporters. “But I believe the figure can reach 30 million.”
Previously, Mr Antunes had forecasted that the number of tourist arrivals in 2012 would increase by at least 10 percent year-on-year.