Macau welcomed 135,897 visitor arrivals on the 1 October National Day of the People’s Republic of China, a 3.8% increase over last year’s holiday.
The figures, released by the Macao Government Tourism Office, include a 5.0% increase in arrivals from mainland China, which comprised 85.9% of all arrivals as the SAR celebrated the 70th anniversary of the PRC.
The border gate was the most popular point of entry, with 84,867 visitors flowing through to kick off Golden Week, with 19,696 arriving via the Cotai Checkpoint, 9,923 via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and 8,292 by air. Another 13,096 landed by ferry.
Last year the seven days of October Golden Week saw more than 890,000 people arrive in Macau, representing a 7.2% year-on-year rise.
Despite the increase, analysts have warned that higher visitor numbers are unlikely to translate to higher gaming revenue.
“While hotel bookings are solid, we expect the quality of the customers will be lower (i.e. lower spend per head) this year,” said Bernstein’s Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu.
“Room comps will be high during the period, but likely go to an average lower spend customer than in 2018. Consequently, higher end play will likely remain tepid during Golden Week and during the whole of October.”
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