Macau’s appeal as a genuine tourist destination appears to be growing with the number of visitors staying overnight in June up 10.1% year-on-year.
Visitor arrivals for the month totaled 2,378,615, a slight 0.9% increase on the same period in 2016, however the boost in overnight visitor numbers will be warmly welcomed by the government following its campaign to diversify Macau’s offerings.
Overnight visitors tend to comprise a greater number of tourists than same-day visitors whose brief stopover in Macau is more likely to be focused on gambling. Same-day visitation fell by 9.1% in June. The increase in overnight visitors saw the average length of stay rise by 0.1 days year-on-year to 1.3 days.
In the first half year of 2017, visitor arrivals totaled 15,564,303, up 5.4% year-on-year.
Visitors from Mainland China increased by 1.8% year-on-year in June, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme (704,720) rising by 5.8%. Visitors from the Republic of Korea surged by 42.2%, while those from Hong Kong and Taiwan dropped by 3.9% and 9.9% respectively.