Macau Reports Record Number of Tourist Arrivals, Hong Kong Experiences 14 Percent Drop

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Macau Reports Record Number of Tourist Arrivals, Hong Kong Experiences 14 Percent Drop

Macau has reported the record number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2019: last year over 39 million tourists visited the city. It is 10 percent more than during the previous year.

Out of 39.4 million tourists who arrived to Macau in 2019, 28 million came from mainland China. Other Macau's major tourist source markets in 2019 were Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, India, Australia, and Thailand.

At the same time and regardless the fact that several new accommodations were added to the hotel fund, the supply of hotel rooms decreased compared to 2018. It is attributed to a number of existing establishments having closed for renovation. 

While Macau is celebrating its achievements of 2019, the Hong Kong Tourism Board has reported the number of visitors dropped about 14 percent in 2019. The total number of visitors hardly reached 56 million last year. The last time Hong Kong saw the decline in visitor numbers was in 2016.

The tourism sector in Hong Kong took the major blow of prolonged social unrest in the second half of 2019 as escalated violent incidents seriously disrupted transport and scared off visitors. While the first half of the year was very promising with a 14 percent growth of tourist arrivals, violent incidents resulted in a 39-percent drop in visitors in the July-December period.

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