Macau Visitor Arrivals Up During Golden Week; ARR of 4 and 5-Star Hotel Rates Down

According to preliminary statistics, Macau registered 936,974 visitor arrivals (including foreign workers and students) during the 9-15 February Golden Week Holiday in Mainland China, marking a growth of 15.4% compared with last year's Spring Festival golden week.

Among those visitors, close to 630,000 came from Mainland China, marking an increase of 25.5%.

During the golden week, the average occupancy rate of 3 to 5-star hotels reached 89%, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%.

The total number of rooms supplied by all hotels and guest houses in Macau surged up to 28,643 rooms, a year-on-year growth of 24% equivalent to 5,562 rooms.

The 3-star and 4-star hotels achieved an average occupancy rate of 89% and 87.1% respectively, an increase of 2.9% and 0.7%, whereas 5-star hotels had an average occupancy rate of 90.9%, a slight decrease of 0.02%.

Compared with the Spring Festival golden week last year, the number of 5-star hotel rooms has increased by 4,522.

According to the data provided by hotel industry, the average room rate of local 3 to 5-star hotels fell by 1.1%. The average room rate of guest houses during the golden week was 642 patacas, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%, while the average room rates of 2-star and 3-star hotels were 1,080.4 and 1,998 patacas respectively, a rise of 13.5% and 4%. The average room rates of 4-star and 5-star hotels were 1,816.6 and 2,281.6 patacas respectively, a decrease of 3.7% and 3.3%.

The decrease in the average room rate of 5-star hotels was attributed mainly to the reduced room rates of 2 resort hotels compared with the same period last year. It was also due to the fact that another 2 massive hotels opened, with one of them operating close to 3,900 rooms (constituting 20% of total 5-star hotel rooms) and has an average room rate of 1,680 to 1,980 patacas. Due to the influence of same factors, the average room rate of 4-star hotels dropped slightly as well.