After welcoming a record number of tourists over the most recent Chinese New Year period, Macau is reportedly now expecting to chalk up as much as a 20% rise year-on-year in visitations for next week’s four-day Labor Day holiday.

Continued improvement:

According to a Friday report from GGRAsia, this is the prediction of Maria Helena De Senna Fernandes (pictured), Director for the Macao Government Tourism Office, after the same period in 2018 saw the city note a comparable 4.7% increase in visitor numbers to around 391,000.

Bridge bonanza:

Fernandes reportedly explained that more tourists than ever before are likely to visit Macau over the course of the upcoming local holiday, which is scheduled to run from Wednesday until Saturday, as travel into the enclave is now much easier following the opening in October of the 34-mile Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Should her prediction prove correct, GGRAsia detailed that the Labor Day period would see the city welcome about 469,200 visitors and enjoy hotel occupancy rates well above the 90% mark.

First-quarter deluge:

GGRAsia reported that Fernandes declared that the 10.36 million tourists that had visited Macau over the course of the first three months of 2019 had ‘far exceeded’ her office’s official prediction and represented a 21.2% boost year-on-year. She purportedly also proclaimed that this period saw the city host almost 4.74 million overnight visitors with approximately 92% of the overall tally coming from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which had equated to a year-on-year growth of some 7.6%.

Citing official figures from the Macao Government Tourism Office, GGRAsia reported that last year’s Labor Day holiday saw Macau post hotel occupancy rates of 94.3% with average costs per night of around $200.