Macau targets 33 million visitor arrivals in 2024 with Individual Visit Scheme expansion

Jenny Ortiz June 18, 2024

Macau’s tourism authorities have set an ambitious goal to attract 33 million visitors in 2024, marking a nearly 17 percent increase from 2023. This optimistic projection is driven by China’s expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), which now includes 10 additional Chinese cities, according to Helena de Senna Fernandes, Head of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).

New cities boosting visitor numbers

Xi’an and Qingdao are among the newly added cities under the IVS for visits to Hong Kong and Macau. Since the scheme took effect in March, visitor numbers from these cities have shown a significant upward trend. In the first five months of the year, over 34,000 visitors from Qingdao arrived in Macau, surpassing the 25,000 visitors recorded during the same period in 2019. Similarly, more than 64,000 visitors from Xi’an travelled to Macau, reaching 92 percent of the 2019 levels.

Rising visitor spending

Increased visitor arrivals have also led to higher spending. Local media outlet Macao Daily News reported that total visitor spending in the first quarter of this year reached MOP20.35 billion ($2.53 billion), a substantial 36 percent increase compared to the same period last year. This surge in spending is a positive indicator for Macau’s tourism industry.

Cumulative visitor arrivals

From January to May 2024, Macau welcomed approximately 14.18 million visitors, which is about 82 percent of the level seen in the same period in 2019. The number of visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan reached around 2.98 million and 324,000, respectively, reflecting increases of 4.6 percent and 144.2 percent compared to last year. These figures have recovered to 97 percent and 73 percent of the levels observed in the same period in 2019.

International visitor growth

Macau also saw a significant rise in international visitors. Around 978,000 international tourists visited Macau in the first five months of 2024, averaging over 6,400 daily. This marks an impressive 176 percent increase compared to last year, recovering to 67 percent of the levels seen in the same period in 2019.

According to the latest data from data from the Statistics and Census Service, South Korea and the Philippines are among the top international visitors to China’s Special Administrative Region.

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