The Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee has announced a preliminary count of 145,000 spectators attending the six-day Macau Grand Prix, well up from the 86,000 who viewed the races live in 2019.
This year represented the 70th edition of the famous race, with the Macau Government extending the event to six days for the first time and spanning two weekends with 11 races.
President of the Macau Sports Bureau and Coordinator of the Grand Prix Organizing Committee, Pun Weng Kun, said the 2023 Grand Prix had attracted more spectators than in the past and that the event had run smoothly.
“Preliminary statistics show that about 145,000 spectators attended the six-day event over the two consecutive weeks. On the last day of the event on Sunday, there were 36,000 spectators,” Pun said.
The four race days of the past week alone surpassed 2019, he added, with 99,000 attendees.
“This year’s event was sponsored by the six Macau concessionaires, each of whom contributed MOP$20 million to the event,” Pun noted. “The concessionaires utilized their corporate promotional power to greatly enhance the impact of the event.
“The results have exceeded the government’s expectations, and the expected number of tourists visiting Macau is also quite satisfactory, which shows that the Grand Prix has a clear advantage.”
In an interview with Macao Daily News, a hotel industry representative revealed that the overall hotel occupancy rate during the Grand Prix reached 90%, and that resorts along the Cotai Strip were fully booked.
The government also announced that the number of visitor arrivals entering Macau through Hengqin Port reached 72,000 on 18 November, the first time passenger flow at this port has exceeded 70,000 on a single day.