First Mainland Visitors to Macau in Three Years

February 9, 2023 ChinaMacau Events & Announcements

With the arrival of 135 individuals from six tour groups on Monday, mainland China resumed visits to Macau after a three-year hiatus.

This comes after the State Council of the People’s Republic of China’s Office for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs declared last Friday that travel from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong and Macau would completely resume on February 6.

The six mainland tour groups arrived in Macau on Monday by land and air, making them the first mainland tour groups to do so since the COVID-19 outbreak began. They traveled via Hengqin Port, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, and the Macau International Airport, respectively, and included two from the Guangdong Province, three from Shanghai, and one from Liaoning Province.

A total of 27 persons were scheduled to go from the Chinese mainland to Macau through land, and they intended to stay there for two days. Among other well-known tourist attractions, the tour will stop at the Taipa House Museum and Our Lady of Sorrows Church.

A 17-person party from Shanghai was the first tour by air, and they had a five-day stay in Macau planned.

Cheng Wai Tong, the deputy director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, reports that 15 tour groups with a combined capacity of over 400 visitors have registered to visit Macau.

Tour applications are quickly picking up again, and the MGTO will closely watch the situation, according to Cheng.

The Macau tourism sector has recently planned Southeast Asian trips to Macau, as far as the MGTO is aware. The MGTO is researching the financial possibilities for visits to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries. Each traveler on an international tour will be given a subsidy of MOP$350 for a single night and MOP$500 for two or more nights.

After the mainland stated plans to do so for “four provinces and one city” initially last year, the plan was delayed due to the epidemic. The long-awaited resume of tours follows.