Macau, China, Jan 21, 2025 (Lusa) - Macau welcomed 34.9 million visitors last year, 23.8% more than the previous year, but still far from the record of 39.4 million set in 2019, before the pandemic, it was announced on Tuesday.
The figure exceeds the initial forecasts of the Chinese semi-autonomous region's Tourism Bureau (DST), which was 33 million, as well as the forecast revised upwards on 4 December: 34 million.
However, according to Macau's Statistics and Census Bureau (‘DSEC’), more than 54% of visitors (18.9 million) arrived on organised tours and spent less than a day in the city.
In 2024, the central government unveiled a series of measures to support Macau, such as increasing the tax exemption limit on goods for personal use purchased by visitors from China, who, while on excursions, can also, within seven days, travel several times between the special administrative region and Hengqin (adjacent to Macau), through the Hengqin Border Post.
At the same time, the Chinese authorities extended the list of places with ‘individual visas’ to visit Hong Kong and Macau to 10 more cities in China.
As a result, the overwhelming majority (90.7%) of tourists arriving in Macau in 2024 came from mainland China or Hong Kong, while only 2.42 million were international visitors.
On 26 August, the DST launched a prize draw for 100 travel packages, including airline tickets and hotel accommodation, for international tourists who take part in an online survey.
On Friday, the director of the DST, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, said that Portugal could help Macau attract more visitors from the rest of Europe in the future.
"Portugal is not just for targeting Portugal. Portugal can also help us reach the European market," said Senna Fernandes.
She gave as an example the biannual meeting of the European Confederation of Travel Agents and Tour Operators Associations (ECTAA), which will be held in Macau in June.
"This is also the result of good collaboration between us and APAVT [Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies], because it was through APAVT that we were introduced to ECTAA," emphasised Senna Fernandes.
"Although there will be less than 100 people, they represent a total of 80,000 travel agencies from all over Europe," she emphasised.
The DST will be present at the Madrid International Tourism Fair, from 24 to 26 January, and at ITB Berlin, the world's largest travel fair, from 4 to 6 March, as well as holding seminars in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Senna Fernandes also said that she expected Macau to receive between 38 and 39 million visitors this year.
In August, she set a target of more than three million international visitors by 2025.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
