Macau’s government tourism agency (MGTO) said in an email on Wednesday in response to questions from GGRA that the 2023 tourist arrival tally in Macau is “likely to be more than 27 million.”

That’s about 8% higher than the 25 million people MGTO director Maria Helena de Sena Fernandez mentioned in an appearance on local public broadcaster TDM in early October.

This increased figure, if achieved, represents about 69% of the pre-pandemic 2019 tally. According to data from Macau’s National Statistical Office, Macau had a total of 39.4 million visitors arriving that year.

On Wednesday, Macau’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, told the legislative session that visitor arrivals may recover to “over 80 percent” of 2019 in 2024. It came amid discussions over a government policy speech outlining next year’s work.

During the session, Mr. Ray repeated his comments earlier this month on the tourism sector and the government’s focus on promoting tourism in 2024. These included pursuing a visitor source market in “Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia,” as well as planned flight and hotel accommodation discounts for travelers from the region, and expanding direct flights.

In an emailed statement to GGRAsia, the Tourism Bureau said it expects “two million” visitors from overseas markets, namely mainland China, Hong Kong and outside Taiwan, in 2024.

Macao’s six casino operating companies have now been asked to help expand the number of international visitors as part of a decade-long concession.

In the first 10 months of this year, about 1.02 million visitors arrived from overseas source markets, accounting for only about 39% of the same period in 2019.

From the calendar year to Oct. 31, Macau had nearly 22.69 million visitors overall, according to government data. The two top-source markets remained in mainland China (15.32 million) and Hong Kong (5.95 million), which accounted for 64.4% and 97%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2019.

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