CNY visitor arrivals up 5.2 pct y-o-y

Some 548,536 visitors arrived in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) between Sunday and Wednesday for the four days holiday starting on Chinese New Year’s Eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year, according to the latest data available from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO). During this Chinese New Year holiday season, in the four days from February 7 to 10, the number of visitor arrivals increased by 5.2 per cent year-on-year. About 71 per cent of total visitors were from the Mainland. The number was 389,685 and represented an increase of 6.7 per cent year-on-year. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said recently that unstable external economic factors such as exchange rate fluctuations had affected Macau’s tourist arrival figures. Although year-on-year visitor numbers had increased, some shops selling souvenirs, cosmetics and ladies’ fashions claimed a drop in profits of about ten per cent or even a loss, according to Macao Daily News. As at 5:00 pm yesterday, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) stated that more than 294,000 people had entered or departed Macau. About 62 per cent or some 182,000 were visitor arrivals, of whom 115,000 arrived in Macau via the Border Gate, according to local media TDM.