The number of visitors entering Macau reached 2,301,056 in September, up by 310% year-on-year but down 28.6% compared with August, according to figures from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
The month-on-month decline reflects a month that was heavily impacted by severe weather events, including Super Typhoon Saola which was severe enough to force Macau’s casinos to close for a nine-hour period on 1 September. Gross gaming revenues also took a hit in September, down 13.2% to MOP$14.94 billion (US$1.85 billion).
The DSEC said Tuesday that mainland Chinese tourists made up the majority of arrivals in September, with 1,589,423 visitors representing an increase of 220% compared to September last year. Visitor arrivals from the Greater Bay Area (GBA) increased by 150% to 749,926, with 214,970 from Zhuhai and 162,966 from Guangzhou, accounting for 28.7% and 21.7% of total arrivals respectively.
Another 534,755 were from Hong Kong and 50,660 were from Taiwan, representing year-on-year increases of 1,006% and 670% respectively.
As for foreign arrivals, the Philippines continued to account for the largest number of arrivals with 24,705, followed by South Korea with 22,283.
The September figures included 1,169,471 overnight and 1,131,585 same-day visitors, with an average length of stay of 1.4 days, a year-on-year reduction of 0.4 days.
For the first nine months of 2023 combined, the number of visitor arrivals totaled 19,928,168, representing a year-on-year increase of 360%. This included 10,236,800 overnight visitors and 9,691,368 same-day visitors with an average length of stay of 1.3 days, down from 1.4 days during the same period in 2022.
