Macau’s Public Security Police reported 171 566 inbound travellers on 26 September, a 27.1 percent increase over the same day last year and the highest single-day figure since the SAR scrapped all pandemic-era entry quotas. Nearly 45 percent of visitors entered via the northern Gongbei checkpoint from Zhuhai, followed by the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (19.7 percent) and the new Hengqin port (19.4 percent). The surge underscores Macau’s continued reliance on mainland leisure traffic, fuelled by a three-day public holiday in China and aggressive hotel-package promotions by the SAR’s six casino-resort operators. Business travellers should expect hotel occupancy above 90 percent and premium-season room rates through 2 October, with spill-over affecting nearby Hengqin and Zhuhai. Corporations hosting meetings or incentive events during Golden Week may need to shift delegations to Shenzhen or Guangzhou or pay holiday surcharges. Immigration queues at peak times have stretched to 40 minutes, but holders of China’s electronic Exit-Entry Permit (EEP) for Macau can still use automated gates. Companies should remind staff to update the QR code in the “澳門健康碼” app, which doubles as an arrival-card substitute. With National Day’s seven-day break approaching, Macau authorities have indicated that temporary one-way crowd-control measures—including staggered coach departures and pedestrian flow channels—could be activated at Senado Square and the Ruins of St Paul’s to prevent bottlenecks.
Source: The Macau Shimbun
