Macau, China, Feb. 20, 2026 (Lusa) - The Chinese region of Macau set a new record by welcoming nearly 228,000 tourists on the third day of the Lunar New Year, the world's largest annual migration, it was announced today.
Macau's Public Security Police (PSP) said the territory's borders recorded 227,943 visitors on Thursday, the highest number since daily records began.
The previous record (221,968) was set in 2025 during the so-called “golden week” of Labour Day, 1 May, a holiday in mainland China and a peak tourism season in Macau.
On Thursday, Macau's border checkpoints recorded 750,114 crossings, still below the PSP's forecast of 780,000 last week.
The police had predicted an average of 670,000 daily border crossings and more than 6 million entries and exits during the Lunar New Year period from 15 to 23 February.
According to the latest estimate by the local government, the total population residing in the Macau Special Administrative Region was 686,600.
On 8 February, Macau recorded a new historic high for entries and exits at the city's borders, ten days before the Lunar New Year, with around 867,000 crossings.
According to data from the PSP, the territory's largest border crossing, at Portas do Cerco, recorded the passage of almost 463,000 people, the highest daily figure in the last five years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese authorities predict that hundreds of millions of people will travel during the world's largest annual migration to celebrate the Lunar Year of the Fire Horse.
The season for these journeys, known as “chunyun”, a 40-day period before and after the start of the Lunar New Year, began on 2 February.
On 29 January, Li Chunlin, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, the country's main economic planning body, announced that estimates for this year predict that Chinese people will make up to 9.5 billion trips during “chunyun”.
If this forecast is correct, it will set a new historical record, surpassing the previous high of 9.02 billion trips recorded in 2024.
According to official estimates, train journeys could reach 540 million, while air travel is expected to be around 95 million, both potential historical highs for this period.
The authorities have promised to increase transport system capacity on the busiest routes and in areas of highest demand to cope with the expected increase in travel.
Chunyun is often used as an indicator of economic activity and as a stress test for the country's transport infrastructure, at a time when China is seeking to boost consumption and services as drivers of domestic demand, which has not yet fully recovered since the pandemic.
JW/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
