Tourism authorities hope Pop Mart event can boost tourism in less-visited city districts

Partnerships with known IP brands such as Pop Mart help drive visitations to less-known neighbourhood community areas in Macau, tourism authorities noted today.

Pop Mart is a Chinese lifestyle brand known for its blind box collectibles—small designer toys sold in sealed packaging, where buyers don’t know which figure they’ll get until they open it. The element of chance and frequent partnership with known designers and brands has been a key factor in the success of the Beijing-based group

In a partnership with MGTO, POP MART’s popular characters will be integrated with different local culinary themes, with multiple snap spots to be set up at Senado Square, Calçada da Igreja de São Lázaro, Camões Garden, Largo de Santo Agostinho, and a sitting-out area on Rua do Pai Kok in Taipa.

The activities will run from Friday to September 21, spanning 108 days, with the event launched at 2:30 p.m. today at the sitting-out area on Rua do Pai Kok.

During the event period, tourists and residents alike can participate in a lucky draw by making a single purchase of at least MOP100 ($12) at any Macau business using designated payment platforms (Mpay, Alipay, True Money, Touch ‘n Go eWallet). Winners will have the chance to receive “exclusive” event gifts.

In a similar initiative, the Macau government recently launched a Hello Kitty-themed bus service, as part of the “Flora Fête with Sanrio characters” installation-display campaign, aiming to boost the northern district’s community economy.

The bus route, comprising six stops, runs across the peninsula’s northern district, where members of the public can take a free ride after making an appointment.

“Pop Mart is a very well-known IP, popular all over the world […] the brand has many resources in its worldwide fan base, and we hope it can create some buzz about Macau and the different elements of the city. When people come to see it, they also visit different areas of the city and see different elements,” Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said today at the event opening.

For the first four months of 2025 combined, a total of 12,9 million visitors entered Macau, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.9 per cent. However, most of that traffic tends to gather in integrated resorts or central tourism areas, with most local SMEs not ebenfiting from the majority of tourism spending.

Fernandes noted that although some of the featured areas are already popular tourism spots in Macau, areas such as Camões Garden and Largo de Santo Agostinho are less “visited spots” which can benefit from the event.

“I think it can bring some foot traffic to these areas, which have very pleasant characteristics that can be unknown to many tourists visiting the city”, the MGTO Director added.

Since rolling out its globalization roadmap in 2018, POP MART’s business footprint has expanded to encompass nearly 100 countries and regions worldwide.

It now has over 500 stores in 30+ countries and regions, more than 2,300 ROBOSHOPs, and operates across multiple cross-border e-commerce platforms, reaching consumers in over 80 countries

Just in 2024, POP MART opened its first brick-and-mortar outlets in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Italy, and Spain, while establishing a presence in several iconic locations worldwide, including inside the Louvre in Paris, France, on Oxford Street in London, UK, and at Sun World Ba Na Hills in Da Nang, Vietnam.

This helped the Beijing company achieve a revenue of RMB13.04 billion ($1.8 billion) in 2024, showing a year-on-year increase of 106.9 per cent, and an adjusted net profit of RMB3.4 billion, up 185.9 per cent from the previous year.

Last year, POP MART’s intellectual property (IP) operation system included four key properties, THE MONSTERS, MOLLY, SKULLPANDA, and CRYBABY, characters which collectively generated revenue exceeding RMB1 billion RMB.

Additionally, combined revenue from 13 other IPs, including popular figures such as DIMOO WORLD, HIRONO, Zsiga, and HACIPUPU surpassed 3 billion RMB, with remarkable growth below.

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