MGTO ANTICIPATES RECORD ARRIVALS

2014/10/9

From：Macau Business Daily

Another milestone. The number of visitor arrivals for the whole of 2014 is set to surpass 30 million. Macau Government Tourist Office says it’s more than likely. Last year, the territory welcomed 29.3 million visitors.

The year 2014 will set a new record in number of tourist visitations to Macau, director of Macau Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Senna Fernades said yesterday on the sidelines of a press conference announcing the Macau Grand Prix programme.
“It’s very likely that the number of tourists to Macau may be over 30 million. However, we haven’t yet set a goal for the number of tourists we want to reach”, Helena de Senna Fernades said. “We consider that the current number of tourists is not small. Having said that, it is not realistic to set as an objective a steep growth in terms of tourist volume”, she added.
The record of tourists entering Macau was set last year, after 29.3 million visitors crossed the borders to come to the Special Administrative Region. Since 2010, a new record has been set every year. However, 2014 may be the first year to welcome more than 30 million visitors to the city. The goals of the Macau Government Tourist Office, however, are no longer focused on significantly increasing visitation.
“We’re taking a different direction. We want tourists to stay longer, visit different places and spend their money on more varied sectors instead of only one. Of course, such targets take time to be achieved”, she said.
The Director of Macau Government Tourist Office was also asked about the central government ban on tour groups to Hong Kong, following pro-democracy demonstrations in the neighbouring city. More than 40 million Mainland Chinese visit Hong Kong every year. Group tours often include visits to Macau.
“We will continue to observe the situation. But it’s hard to tell exactly how big the impact on Macau will be. We know from the press that package tours account for around 10 percent of visitors to Hong Kong. However, for the moment we don’t see any impact”, she said. “I believe that the ban will affect the so-called Hong Kong-Macau tours because tourists from the mainland are used to travelling to both of the cities together”, she added.
In spite of this ban, the number of visitors arriving in Macau increased by 11 percent in the first 4 days of the month, which was explained by the fact that there more tours had Macau as their sole destination.
“We believe that this is justified by the fact that there are more Macau tours and other tours related only to Macau. This part has more or less compensated for the ban on Hong Kong-Macau tours”, she said.

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