Macau will cap the number of visitors it accepts each year from mainland China in order to maintain the quality of life enjoyed by the city’s permanent residents.

Citing a report by the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau’s government says the city can successfully absorb between 89k and 92k visitors per day. However, during the recent Lunar New Year celebrations, Macau was receiving 147k visitors per day. Macau Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng called this latter figure “well above” the city’s capacity and thus changes were required.

Tam said Macau intends to cap the annual number of mainland visitors at 21m, roughly the number the city welcomed in 2014. That figure represents two-thirds of the city’s total 31m visits in 2014. Macau Business Daily quoted Tam saying Macau wanted to keep mainland visits stable while boosting international visitors in order to achieve “an equilibrium point.”

Tam reassured casino operators that the 21m cap was “not stable” and would eventually increase once the pace of infrastructure development caught up with the frenzied building of casinos and other tourist-drawing attractions in Macau.