Macao welcomed 3.02 million visitor arrivals in July, up 9.5 percent year-on-year, and recovering to 85.6 percent of the number recorded in July 2019 before the pandemic, according to official data released on Tuesday.

From January to July this year, the Macao Special Administrative Region logged a total of about 19.7 million visitor arrivals, rising 37 percent year-on-year, according to the SAR’s Statistics and Census Service.

The number of same-day visitors grew 51.8 percent to 10,485,165 while overnight visitors increased by 51.8 percent to 9,256,007, it added.

Last month saw 2.18 million Chinese mainland visitor arrivals, an increase of 14.3 percent year-on-year, while visitors from the nine Pearl River Delta cities in the Greater Bay Area increased by 15.1 percent to 996,061.

On the other hand, the number of international visitors rose 33.3 percent year-on-year to 172,983 in July, back to 75.5 percent of the July 2019 figure.

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Among Southeast Asian markets, visitors from the Philippines increased 38.2 percent to 42,963, those from Malaysia by 31.4 percent to 8,965, while those from Singapore went up by 13.3 percent to 5,669.

Also, the number of visitors from the Republic of Korea leapt by 66.3 percent year-on-year to 32,825 while tourists from Japan increased 57.9 percent to 8,778.

Various Macao SAR governmental departments continue to develop iconic tourism products, facilities and innovative experiences since 2023.

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The Macao Grand Prix Museum exhibited the wax figures of eight renowned racing drivers in collaboration with Madame Tussauds Hong Kong for the first time and launched the “VR 360° race replay” exhibit zone for visitors to enjoy a brand-new immersive virtual reality (VR) experience.

Cultural tourism venues including X11-X15 of Lai Chi Vun Shipyards and the Black Box Theatre of the Macao Cultural Centre were put into operation to enrich the offer of cultural tourism and leisure experience for residents and visitors.