Macau, China, March 20, 2026 (Lusa) - Macau received 4.17 million visitors in February, 32.6% more than in the same month in 2025, driven by the Lunar New Year holidays, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) announced on Friday.

January reached its highest level since 1998, although the Lunar New Year, an extended holiday period in mainland China and a tourist peak for Macau, fell at the end of February.

The Lunar New Year started on 29 January in 2025, but this year it began on 17 February.

The overwhelming majority of visitors to Macau in February came from mainland China, with 3.29 million entries, up 43.6% on the same month last year, according to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Hong Kong contributed 591,300 visitors (+2%) and Taiwan 89,628 (+31.9%).

International visitor numbers fell 3.3% to 200,848. The Philippines stood out in Southeast Asia with 45,195 entries (+16.3%), while Indonesia (11,587) and Thailand (9,973) recorded drops of 22.3% and 11.4%, respectively.

India added 5,831 visitors (+42.5%), while South Korea accounted for 55,994 (-5.6%). Among long-haul markets, the US recorded 11,142 visitors (+5.5%).

Attracting more foreign tourists to the territory has been an objective repeatedly stressed by Macau tourism authorities.

Territorial authorities set a target to receive more than 3 million international tourists in 2025, however, that figure reached 2.76 million, which was still a 13.7% increase compared to 2024.

The director of the Macau Government Tourism Office highlighted Portugal as a priority for attracting more foreign visitors on 17 February.

Total visitor arrivals for the first two months of 2026 reached 7.82 million, up 15.1% on the same period in 2025. International visitor arrivals reached 479,301, a 6.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

NCM/LYT // ADB.

Lusa