Macau anticipates 6 million border crossings during Chinese New Year

Over the next Chinese New Year holiday, Macau’s Public Security Police anticipate that the number of tourists and border crossings will either match or exceed 2019 levels.

A three-percent increase is anticipated, translating to almost 6 million border crossings. According to Macau authorities, the days from February 9 to February 18 are particularly popular for tourists.

The number of border crossings over these ten days is expected to range from 5.5 million to 6 million, or around 550,000 to 600,000 each day, according to Macau police.

A Public Security Police spokesman said that February 12 is expected to see the most tourists. Because of this, the Macau government is getting ready to implement crowd control measures, which will probably concentrate on locations in the city center like the Ruins of Saint Paul.

Prior estimates from the Macau Tourism Office indicated that 120,000 tourists would arrive each day over the Chinese New Year holiday. Compared to 2019 Chinese New Year, when Macau received over 1.21 million tourists throughout the seven-day holiday period, this data represents a 70% rise.

Regarding gaming, Hoffman Ma, deputy chairman of Success Universe, the operator of Ponte 16, predicts that Macau’s daily gross gaming revenue (GGR) in February would likely surpass the highest daily GGR recorded in October and hit a post-COVID high.

Ma further mentions that for the next Chinese New Year period, up to 90% of the rooms at Ponte 16 had been booked. Over the course of this year’s CNY Golden Week (February 10–17), hotel room costs range from MOP2,000 ($246) to over MOP3,000 ($369) per night. Despite this increase, rates are still lower than those seen in 2019.

Original story by: Asia Gaming Brief