Macau International Airport Company Limited (CAM) revealed Wednesday it expects passenger traffic at Macau International Airport (MIA) to increase by between 10% and 15% this year when compared to 2023.
In an interview with local television outlet TDM, Director of CAM’s Marketing Department Eric Fong said that although the capacity of the aviation industry has not yet fully recovered and a shortage in human resources still exists, the organization was confident of strong growth in the year ahead.
“It is expected that this year’s airport passenger traffic will grow compared to last year’s, with an increase of 10% to 15% on top of last year’s passenger volume of 5.15 million,” he explained.
Fong also mentioned that MIA has enough capacity to cope with this growth.
MIA held a ceremony on Wednesday to announce the inaugural flight to Kuala Lumpur, and is expected to operate four flights per week between Macau and the Malaysian capital city.
Speaking to local media after the event, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said the government will spend an estimated MOP$235 million (US$29 million) this year to attract international visitors to Macau.
“The number of international visitors to Macau in 2023 is estimated to be 1.46 million, which is 48% of 2019 levels,” she said.
The MGTO will aim to match the 2019 figure of 3 million international visitors this year, although Senna Fernandes noted, “There are many factors that will affect whether the target can be achieved, including the recovery of flights in the aviation industry and the situation of manpower resources.”
The MGTO will continue to offer discounted air tickets throughout the year to help reach this target, with Air Macau expected to offer 100,000 air ticket discounts worth around MOP$100 million (US$12.4 million).
“The government will launch different programs at different times of the year to attract international visitors, including those from cruise ships berthing in Hong Kong,” Fernandes added.
