Macau gambling industry experiences a rapid growth these days thanks to the Lunar New Year celebrations bringing in an increased number of tourists from Mainland China and Hong Kong. The city officials have reportedly counted almost million arrivals after only four days of the eight-day holiday to acknowledge that the festive visitor arrivals are exceeding expectations. With the average of 175,836 of daily visitor arrivals in four days, the Chinese New Year Golden Week has reportedly generated a 173% traffic increase thus far, over the same period last year.

Record Number of Daily Visitors:

Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) cites Macau’s Public Security Police Force to further report that the region has recorded more than 200,000 daily visitors for the first two consecutive festive days. The region has reportedly set the new daily record with 217,451 visitor arrivals to soon see the new Golden Week Day 4 record of 201,023 arrivals. As IAG reports, the visitor count therefore reached the figure of 703,347 in the four-day festive period.

Tally Figures Beyond Expectations:

As reported, this period marks but a half of the holiday, with another four-day period likely to launch these figures further beyond expectations. IAG reports that the Macao Government Tourism Office expected to see around 960,000 visitor arrivals over the entire holiday, the tally almost reached in the first four festive days. Although the traffic is reportedly expected to slow down as the Golden Week is coming to an end, some records have already been hit by the city to be looking to reach an unprecedented visitor level by the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Increased Arrivals from Mainland China and Hong Kong:

IAG reports that the Macau authorities recorded 524,627 arrivals from Mainland China over the first four days of the holiday. Such a circulation represents a 248% increase in Chinese arrivals when compared to the same period in 2023. Also, Hong Kong arrivals reaching the figure of 135,925 and averaged at 33,981 per day stand for a 44.4% higher figure than the one seen last year to testify about the growing trend.

Improved Stocks:

As BNN Bloomberg reports, the current trend seems to be an extension of the recently achieved industry performance. Macau gambling industry reportedly recorded a 67% higher level of gross gaming revenues in January 2024 over the same period in 2023.  Such a result has improved the stock standings of Macau operators. As reported by Bloomberg, MGM China Holdings Ltd. improved 10% to reach the highest level since June 2021. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd and Wynn Macau reportedly improved 3% each in a recent 10-day period, according to Bloomberg.

Angela Hanlee, a senior gaming and hospitality analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence reportedly commented:  “Macau is not only catering to big gamblers but also leisure travelers who hit the table casually. Growing non-gaming entertainment events such as concerts are bringing more young new blood to the city.” As IAG reports, young blood has been mostly using the Border Gate crossing for recent visits to Macau, but the HZMB and Hengqin Port are reportedly also very busy these days to boost the Lunar New Year visitor tally and the gambling revenue figures beyond expectations.