Macau draws around 1.6M visitors during CNY Golden Week
Macau has attracted close to 1.6 million visitors over the nine days of the Chinese New Year Golden Week holiday period, based on preliminary data from the Macau government, which is derived from immigration statistics.
The figures, released by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), show 1,554,285 visitor arrivals between 15 and 23 February, covering the full nine-day Golden Week period. The data is based on checkpoint monitoring carried out by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), which oversees Macau’s border controls.
Chinese New Year remains the most important annual tourism window for Macau’s integrated resort and casino operators, with visitor traffic closely tracked by regulators and industry participants as an indicator of activity across the city’s gaming floors. Authorities classify the Golden Week dataset as provisional, reflecting immigration counts compiled in near real time during the holiday period.
Mainland China continued to dominate arrivals during the holiday. MGTO statistics show more than 1.2 million visitors from mainland China during the nine-day holiday period, reinforcing the market’s position as Macau’s primary source of casino tourism. Travellers from Hong Kong represented the second largest visitor group despite modest fluctuations during the same period.
Authorities exclude non-resident workers and students from the Golden Week totals in order to reflect tourism demand more accurately. The dataset, therefore, focuses on visitor movements linked to leisure travel, closely associated with visitation to Macau’s regulated gaming resorts.
Border crossings handle bulk of arrivals
Immigration data also highlights how visitors entered Macau. The Border Gate crossing linking the city with neighbouring Zhuhai handled the largest share of arrivals during the holiday, followed by traffic via the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge and the Hengqin checkpoint. These crossings form the main land and bridge routes used by short-stay visitors travelling into Macau’s casino districts.
The Spring Festival travel period, monitored locally between 15 and 23 February, has historically seen a significant rise in recreational travel throughout southern China. The official visitor statistics for Golden Week are released annually by the government agencies of Macau, based on PSP monitoring at immigration points and not final tourism statements.
Provisional data
The latest data is presented in the same reporting pattern as in previous years, with MGTO providing a daily immigration report that is consolidated into a holiday report. The final tourism data is usually incorporated later into the overall annual report, while the Golden Week data releases are the first official glimpse into visitor numbers during peak periods.
Macau is known to have the largest regulated casino market globally, and the number of holiday visitors is an important reference point for the concessionaires in Macau. The number of visitors is monitored along with other official indicators as the authorities follow the tourism performance during the national holiday periods.
The government has not made any announcements regarding licensing or regulatory matters in conjunction with the visitor data release. The data is a statistical update on holiday visitor numbers, and the information is considered to be provisional until it is incorporated into the official tourism statistics for Macau.
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