Macau welcomed nearly half a million tourists during the Chinese New Year's festival week, which begins on Jan. 21, three times more than the same period last year. The rapid growth of these numbers began after Macau reopened on Jan. 8 to take a huge step toward returning to its normal pre-pandemic rhythm.

3x more visitors:

A total of 451,047 visitors arrived during the Chinese New Year's Golden Week, up 297% from a year earlier. On average, 64,435 tourists made reservations a day for seven days, while the peak of visitor arrivals reached midweek, bringing in 90,391 tourists, up 311.5% from a year earlier.

Mainland China and Hong Kong visitors:

Industry experts expect the country will continue to attract an average of 30,000 to 40,000 tourists each day as the country continues to return to pre-pandemic levels. Set at 1.2 million arrivals, the 2019 visitor record appears to be within reach of reaching the region again three years after the shutdown. Hong Kong, with 164,672 tourists this year, or 36.5% of all visits, as well as mainland China, also accounted for a staggering 2,601% annual increase.

According to Asia Gaming Brief, the Macau Tourism Bureau said the number of visitors arriving during the festival "exceeded expectations." The Macau tourism director expressed satisfaction with the number of visitors to Hong Kong during the festival and the success of programs such as free round-trip tickets to stay in Macau for at least one night.

High occupancy levels:

During the festival, the average hotel occupancy rate reached 85.7%, an increase of 22.4 percentage points annually and 92.1%, the highest occupancy level experienced on Jan. 24, at the peak of tourist arrivals in the region. As expected, accommodation rates also rose nearly 50%, reaching an MOP of $1,575 ($195.3) during the peak period.

Still understaffed:

Those resorts are still facing staffing shortages due to COVID-19 that surged in December. Las Vegas Sands Corp, the parent company of Sands China, a Macau casino resort operator, said on Wednesday that its 2,200 rooms at its London-the-Macao resort in the Kotai region were "understaffed for full operational capacity," but all casino operators have continued to grow since it reopened on Jan. 8.