Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong told reporters yesterday he was confident that Macau’s visitor arrivals would reach 28 million this year, pointing out that Macau had recorded 25 million visitor arrivals in the first 11 months of the year already.

Last year, when Macau was still severely affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local tourism industry, the number of visitor arrivals stood at a mere 5.7 million.

Lei made the remarks before the starting ceremony of the 40^th Macau Walk for a Million organised by the Charity Fund from the Readers of Macao Daily News yesterday morning in Nape.

The Chinese-language Macao Daily News is Macau’s best-selling daily.

Lei also said that January’s average daily number of foreign tourists visiting Macau had already reached about 10 percent of that in the whole, pre-pandemic year of 2019, with the average daily number of foreign tourists recorded in the first eight months of this year exceeding 70 percent of that in the whole of 2019, showing that Macau’s overall recovery was taking place satisfactorily.

In 2019, Macau recorded 39.4 million visitor arrivals, according to official statistics.

Macau recorded its first COVID-19 case in January 2020, which triggered a downturn in visitor arrivals for nearly three years.

The government will continue to expand Macau’s visitor source markets, with next year’s tourism promotion campaign to focus on visitors from Northeast and Southeast Asia, according to Lei.

Meanwhile, Lei noted that Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by its 30 casinos between January and November amounted to 164.4 billion patacas, adding he estimated GGR for the full year to be better than expected. 

Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong speaks to reporters before yesterday’s starting ceremony of the 40th Macau Walk for a Million organised by the Charity Fund from the Readers of Macao Daily News in Nape. – Photo: MPDG