31.5 million visitor arrivals post new record

Macau received a record-breaking number of visitors in 2014 – more than 31.5 million visitor arrivals, which is a year-on-year jump of 7.5 per cent, director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said in an annual review of the sector yesterday, claiming the city may welcome yet more tourists this year.
The director of MGTO indicated that the growth of 7.5 per cent registered exceeded her expectations; nevertheless, she still believes the city will receive 5 per cent more per cent tourists this year.
Asked by reporters whether the number of tourists had exceeded the caoacity of the city, Ms. Fernandes said that the government is aiming to increase the length of stay of tourists and the number of international visitors rather than solely chasing for big growth in tourist numbers, despite given the fact that the capacity of the city may expand in tandem with the rise of hotel rooms in the city.
Mainlanders dominating In fact, in 2014, the rise of 7.5 per cent in the total number of tourist visitations was again attributable to mainland visitors, who surpassed 28 million with a year-on-year rise of 8.5 per cent, remaining the biggest source of tourists to Macau.
Hong Kong and Taiwan, meanwhile, remained the second and third biggest source markets for the city, although the total number of visitors both registered drops by some year-on-year 5 per cent and 4.7 per cent, amounting to 6.43 million and 953,000, respectively.
On the other hand, the city saw fewer international visitors last year, with the number dropping 1.1 per cent year-on-year last year.
Meanwhile, nearly half of the tourists last year – some 14.5 million – stayed overnight for 1.9 days, an increase of 2.1 per cent year-on-year.
In addition, some 12 million visitors arrived in Macau on group tours in 2014, representing a growth of 26 per cent year-on-year.
Diversification necessary For 2015, the director indicated that diversification will be one of the chief tasks of the Office.
“Diversification is definitely the key work for us in terms of developing the tourism source market, and on the other hand diversifying the products that we can offer. You can’t ask visitors to stay longer without [offering] new things for them,” Ms. Fernandes said.
She also said that the Office will develop more tourism spots for tourists to push the economy of different communities in Macau, as well as to change the structure of the city’s tourists.
Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan Meanwhile, Ms. Fernandes said the government is to conduct a large scale study on the city’s tourism this year, costing up to 20 million patacas.
The study – titled Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan – will be a ‘scientific’ blueprint for the medium and long-term tourism plans for the Special Administrative Region, according to the MGTO head.
“There will be many fields included in such a master plan, such as re-evaluating our current conditions, [studying] what products or facilities that we have to develop in the future. In addition, we will study the problem of capacity,” Ms Fernandes said.
According to her, more than 10 companies from Macau, Hong Kong and overseas had already purchased the bidding documents. The deadline for placing bids is March 2; MGTO will start evaluating the bids the following day.