This Jan 30, 2020, photo shows a general view of Macao city is seen from the observation deck of Macao Town. (PHILIP FONG / AFP)

MACAO - Visitor arrivals in Macao totaled over 7.7 million in 2021, an increase of 30.7 percent year-on-year, and yet a decline of over 80 percent compared to 2019, the Macao Special Administrative Region's statistics agency said on Thursday.

The average length of stay of visitors in Macao rose by 0.2 day year on year to 1.6 days. The duration for overnight visitors increased by 0.4 day to 3.2 days

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that same-day visitors and overnight visitors in 2021 stood at 4,009,143 and 3,696,800 respectively, up by 30.4 percent and 31.0 percent from 2020.

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The average length of stay of visitors rose by 0.2 day year on year to 1.6 days. The duration for overnight visitors increased by 0.4 day to 3.2 days while that of same-day visitors decreased by 0.1 day to 0.1 day.

In terms of the source market, the number of the Chinese mainland visitors in 2021 reached 7,045,058, an uplift of 48.2 percent year on year. On the other hand, visitors from the Hong Kong SAR and China's Taiwan showed respective decreases of 30.1 percent and 31.9 percent year on year to 589,014 and 70,950.

Analyzed by means of entry, visitor arrivals by land rose by 39.1 percent to 7,003,735 in 2021, with 81 percent of them arriving through the Border Gate checkpoint and 14.8 percent via the Hengqin port. Visitor arrivals by air and by sea totaled 501,387 and 200,821, respectively.

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In December 2021, visitor arrivals totaled 820,870, a growth of 2.4 percent month on month and an upsurge of 24.5 percent year on year.