Macao logged a record 3.47 million visitor arrivals last month, a year-on-year increase of 10.8 percent, according to the city’s the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC). DSEC data showed that last month’s figure was the highest ever recorded in October.

Additionally, the first 10 months of this year recorded the second highest number of visitor arrivals—33.14 million—ever in the January-October period. Last month, same-day visitors (2.10 million) and overnight visitors (1.36 million) rose by 17.6 percent and 1.7 percent year-on-year respectively. Same-day visitors accounted for 60.5 percent of the total number of visitors. On average, overnight visitors stayed for 2.4 days.

Visitors from the Chinese mainland increased by 12.0 percent to 2.53 million in October, accounting for nearly 73 percent of all visitors. Visitors from Taiwan (92,165) increased by 34.2 percent, while those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region dropped by 1.0 percent.

Approximately 1.31 million visitors came from the nine mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), marking a 13.8 percent year-on-year growth, driven by a 50.9 percent leap in the number of visitors from the adjacent Zhuhai City.

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Foreign visitors rose by 22.9 percent to 260,944 in October, accounting for 7.5 percent of the total number of visitor arrivals. South Korea (52,057; +10.6 percent), the Philippines (26,299; +15.3 percent), and Thailand (26,299; +118.5 percent) made up Macao’s top three segments of foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, the local government announced Friday that the 15th National Games, co-hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao from November 9 to yesterday, attracted two million visitors to Macao.

During the Games, Macao hosted 479 events involving 1,800 coaches, athletes, and officials, alongside 3,500 volunteers, Secretary for Social Welfare and Culture Wallis O Lam announced at a press conference in Shenzhen, where the Games’ Closing Ceremony was held.

October also included the four-day 72nd Macau Grand Prix (MGP) from October 13 to 16, which recorded 116,000 spectators, a year-on-year growth of 15 percent, according to the event’s organizers. On average, Macao logged 112,015 visitor arrivals last month.

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Moreover, last month also included the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival in the Chinese mainland, resulting in an upsurge in visitor arrivals during the 'Golden Week.'"

At the end of the third quarter, Macao’s population stood at 686,600, according to official demographics.

The Macau Post Daily is a media partner of China Daily.