Macau attracted 2,704,745 visitors in May, an 8.7% decline on April numbers but up 5.2% year-on-year according to figures released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
The sequential fall has been attributed to one less weekend in the calendar month compared to 2017 due to the golden week which traditionally falls in May instead falling in April this year, with the annual rise boding well for the months ahead.
Overnight visitors (1,449,431) and same-day visitors (1,255,314) grew by 5.3% and 5.1% respectively year-on-year with the average length of stay holding steady at 1.3 days. Visitors from Mainland China increased by 9.3% year-on-year to 1,860,906 in May, with those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 8.2% to 853,979. Mainland visitors came primarily from Guangdong Province (746,045), Hunan Province (93,151) and Fujian Province (69,200).
Visitation from the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom all decreased compared with May 2017.
Much of the China increase was felt at the border gate with arrivals up 7.2% year-on-year to 1,337,136. Visitor arrivals by air surged by 23.5% to 267,322.
In the first five months of 2018, visitor arrivals totaled 14.2 million, an increase. Overnight visitors (7,321,640) and same-day visitors (6,889,697) increased by 8.5% and 7.0% respectively. Visitors from Mainland China (9,952,942) increased by 13.2% year-on-year over the same period.