According to statistics released by the Macao Government Tourism Office, visitation during the seven-day holiday plunged to just 261k visitors, down from 1.20 million in 2019 for the year of the pig, an astonishing but not surprising 78.3% drop.
The drop is clearly attributed to fears of the novel coronavirus, whether its Macau’s recent efforts into border control to prevent entry of those who may be infected or tourists staying at home to help control the spread of the virus.
Mainland Chinese visitors decreased 83.3% to 149k. Visitation from regions near China dropped at a lower rate with visitation from Taiwan and Hong Kong decreasing 66.7% and 53.5% respectively. Visitors from elsewhere in the world, which accounts for just 9.9% of total holiday visitation, dropped by 56.2% to 26k.
