Macau: Inbound Tourist Numbers Decline In 2009

At the Annual Marketing Meeting of the Macau Government Tourist Office, Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, the director of MGTO, stated that according to provisional data, in the first five months of 2009, the number of inbound tourists was 8.9 million: a decrease of 10% over the same period of last year.

The annual meeting was held at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center, with about 400 participants from 17 countries and regions.

Antunes pointed out at the meeting that the top ten visitor generating markets for the first five months were mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and the USA. Of these there had been positive growth in numbers from Hong Kong SAR, Japan, and Thailand with increases of 0.3%, 8.7% and 14.9% respectively.

In the first quarter of 2009, the overall average spending per capita was MOP1,638, a drop of 5.3%.