Top official confident Macao will welcome 28 million visitors by the end of this year
If achieved, the tally would be 70 percent of 2019’s tourism numbers – slightly better than what the government predicted in November.
The SAR saw 25 million visitors arrive in the first 11 months of the year and finance secretary Lei Wai Nong says it shouldn’t be too difficult to squeeze an additional three million in by the end of December – bringing the total to 28 million.
Lei made this prediction at the 40th Macau Walk for a Million charity event on Sunday, local media reported, upping a prediction made by the government in early November.
Twenty-eight million would be more than 70 percent of the 39.4 million visitors welcomed in 2019 – the last year before Macao effectively closed its borders under a draconian zero-Covid policy.
[See more: The government has proposed a budget to lure foreign tourists to Macao]
Lei also noted that next year’s tourism campaign will focus on attracting visitors from Northeast and Southeast Asia.
Last month, the government announced its plan to spend 235 million patacas on promoting Macao as a destination for foreign tourists in a bid to reduce its dependence on mainland Chinese travelling to the city to gamble. Foreigners currently make up less than 6 percent of arrivals.
