Macao's tourist arrivals in April pick up

Macao's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) Friday released the data showing that the visitor arrivals in April saw a recovery from last month, which numbered 2.54 million, down by 3.4 percent year-on-year.

DSEC data show that the number of tourists from Chinese mainland declined by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 1.63 million in April, but mainland visitors traveling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) rose slightly by 0.5 percent from a year earlier.

Visitors From Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea increased by 3 percent, 11 percent and 21.3 percent respectively compared to the figures in the same period of 2014. In terms of long-distance passengers, travelers from the United States, Canada and the UK are on the rise, while visitors from Australia saw a reduction.

Of all the arrivals in April, 54.5 percent spent only one day. The average length of stay of visitors fell from 1.0 day a year earlier to 0.9 day, with overnight and same-day visitors staying 1. 8 days and 0.2 day respectively, the figures indicated.

"We are trying out new ways to make Macao a more interesting and enjoyable place to visit by introducing cultural and creative elements to diversify our tourism products so as to attract more in-depth travelers and extend their time of stay, the Director of Macao Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of Boao Forum held in Macao recently, adding that the local government is strengthening tourism cooperation with the neighbor provinces like Guangdong and Fujian and starting promotion campaign to open up the tourism market in Southeast Asia. Endi