Visitor arrivals to Macau surged by 23.2% month-to-month in October to 3,154,291, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 9.2%.
The impact of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is bringing mixed blessings for Macau and Hong Kong.
Visitor arrivals to Macau surged by 23.2% month-to-month in October to 3,154,291, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 9.2%.
The increase was due to the National Day holiday and the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the statistics department said.
Visitors from the Chinese mainland increased by 12.1% year-on-year to 2,306,844 in October, primarily from Guangdong Province (1,001,563) and Hunan Province (110,850). Visitors from Hong Kong (509,369) rose by 9.3%.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge recorded an average of 64,000 crossings on a daily basis during the past month, according to the Ministry of Transport of China.
As of midnight of November 20, the bridge had been crossed 1.79 million times. The highest daily utilisation was recorded at 103,000 times, the Macau Daily Times reported.
The Chinese transport authority said that during the 29 days of operation, from October 24 to November 21, 97% of the vehicles using the bridge were coaches, many of which were carrying mainland elderly one-day tour groups attracted by discounted fares.
However, the large numbers crossing from the mainland are swamping Lantau island where residents of Tung Chung have complained of being inundated by visitors.
The influx of mainland visitors to Tung Chung has seen long queues at bus stops and shops largely emptied of goods, triggering protests over the disruption to residents’ daily life, SCMP reported.