Mainland residents made 48.5 million outbound trips in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 7.5% from a year earlier, according to China's National Immigration Administration. Macao ranked second among destinations, behind Hong Kong.
The figures were released at an October 20 news conference and reproduced by the Henan provincial government portal. The administration's top-ten destination list continued with South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Russia and Indonesia.
The data measure border trips rather than unique travelers. A person leaving more than once can be counted more than once, and the release does not state how many nights visitors stayed or how much they spent. Macao's second-place ranking therefore signals travel volume, not casino revenue or per-visitor value.
Across all traveler categories, Chinese border authorities processed 192 million entries and exits from July through September. That total rose 7.9% year on year and includes movements by mainland residents, residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and foreign nationals.
The same briefing recorded 11.6 million trips to China by foreign nationals. Visa-free arrivals accounted for 8.99 million and increased 24.1% from the comparable period, according to the government report. Those inbound figures are separate from the 48.5 million mainland outbound trips.
For Macao's gaming and hospitality sector, the new ranking confirms that the territory remains a major destination for mainland travel. It does not establish how much of the quarterly increase reached Macao, because the government release did not publish destination-level volumes.
