China's Macao Special Administrative Region welcomed a total of 167,000 visitors during the May Day holiday (May 1 to 5), with 45,000 visitors arriving on May 1 – the highest daily record since the COVID-19 outbreak began, the Macao Government Tourism Office said on Friday.

According to the local tourism office, about 156,000 tourists were from the Chinese mainland during the five-day public holiday, accounting for 93.4 percent of the total figure.

The daily average number of arrivals to Macao stood at 33,000, up by 158.2 percent from that during the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11 to 17) and up by 25.4 percent from the figure in April, said the office.

The average hotel occupancy rate during the May Day holiday reached 83.2 percent, up by 34.6 percentage points from the figure in the Spring Festival Golden Week.

The daily average of arrivals during this year's May Day holiday surged to 21.1 percent, the figure last recorded in the same period of 2019 before the pandemic hit. The hotel occupancy rate reached the pre-pandemic level of 96.6 percent from the same period of 2019.

Macao has seen its tourism warm up in the past few months thanks to effective COVID-19 prevention measures and stable epidemic situations on both sides, said the office in a March statement.

The office has made several efforts to promote Macao as a safe destination for tourists, including offering coupons for mainland tourists, which can be used in Macao and on online platforms.