Macau visitation numbers up in 2016

Figures released this week by the Macau Government Tourism Office show that the number of visitors to the gambling island of Macau rose 0.08 percent y-o-y in 2016 to 30.95 million.

MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes told local reporters that preliminary data shows that international and total visitor arrivals in Macau both registered a year-on-year increase, as did the number of visitors from the Greater China market.

International visitor arrivals were up by 8 percent, she said, naming mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as the main sources of visitors but noting that South Korea delivered 660,000 visitors throughout the year – a growth of almost 20 percent year-on-year.

Overnight visitors outpaced day-only visitors and were up 10 percent compared to the previous year, Fernandes revealed.