A Macau tourism expert said on Thursday that the gaming hub has seen a big jump in tourist numbers since Covid restrictions were eased.

During the first four days of the Lunar New Year, the former Portuguese enclave received around 250,000 visitors from Hong Kong and the mainland alone.

An associate professor of tourism at the University of Macau, Glenn McCartney, said businesses in the SAR are optimistic that tourism will continue to pick up, giving the city’s economy a much-needed boost.

"That's got a lot to do with the removal of [Covid] restrictions but of course the issue of pent-up demand where people really wanted to come back and can't so that has created a surge in volume," McCartney told RTHK.

He said that a lot of businesses took a big hit during Covid lockdowns.

"Tourism industry is our main industry in Macau, you know the hospitality industry, and all the small businesses that rely on that," he said.

"And of course, when Covid hit, our industry got hit as well, and so that trickled down to the small businesses."

The tourism expert said as inbound tourism springs back to life, Macau is poised for a strong recovery.