Macau’s visitor arrivals surged past 70,000 on Monday, by far the highest single day tally since COVID-19 border restrictions were first put in place in early 2020.

The 71,678 arrivals, including 39,394 visitors from mainland China and 27,768 from Hong Kong, came on the third day of this year’s Chinese New Year holiday – also known as Golden Week – and took the total number of holiday arrivals to 154,273, a 342% increase on the comparative day in 2020.

Macau had welcomed 32,554 visitors on Saturday, rising to 50,041 on Sunday according to data from the Public Security Police Force.

Arrivals from mainland China for the first three days of Golden Week combined were 84,505, up 163% year-on-year, while 59,721 came from Hong Kong, an increase of 2,840%.