New flights linking Macau with the Philippine capital Manila, the Vietnamese central city of Da Nang, and the popular northern Thai city of Chiang Mai will be resumed from March 2023 due to growing travel demand, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao has announced.

An Air Macau plane

This comes after Macau’s flag carrier, Air Macau, saw passenger levels of between 31% and 83% on flights to Tokyo, Ha Noi, Seoul, Bangkok and Taipei between January 7 and February 8.

The five destinations will see their flight frequencies increase in March. In addition, Air Macau is planning to resume services to Osaka, Khaosiung, Singapore and other destinations worldwide in 2023.

Previously, Air Macau had restored flights to Ha Noi, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok. The most popular outbound destination from the gaming hub has been Bangkok so far. The Thai capital has been the airline’s most popular destination since Macao lifted its pandemic restrictions, with weekly flights more than 80 per cent full.

Air Macau is on track to resume services to at least 12 of the 24 international routes it operated before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Macau Special Administrative Region which is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of China, is actively undertaking tourism marketing campaigns to promote its destination and drive the recovery of international tourism. Besides, the Macau Tourism Industry is working closely with the local Maritime Transport Sector to offer incentive programs and travel discount programs in a bid to attract more tourists.

During the recent Lunar New Year holiday, the Macau International Airport welcomed over 76,000 visitors, reaching 31% of pre-pandemic levels, of whom, 68,000 came from mainland China, reaching 71% of pre-pandemic levels.

Reporting by TTXVN – Translating by H.L