Macau has not had a Covid-19 case in over six months, and hospitality
and tourism in the city are slowly picking up momentum since the
reinstatement of tourist visas for all Chinese travellers since 23
September, 2020.
According to reports by Statistics and Census Service shared by Macao
Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the relaxed visa policies and
exemption of quarantine upon arrival have shown a slow yet continuous
increase in visitor arrivals.
September 2020 registered nearly four times the number of Mainland
China visitors compared to July, and October marked a further 35%
increase from September—likely a result of the Golden Week holidays.
With 42,000 hotel rooms in Macau, excluding inns and guest houses,
occupancy rates at hotels currently range between 40% and 51.8%. Moving
forward, MGTO anticipates daily visitor arrivals to be between 20,000
and 30,000.
Pamela Chan, head of marketing of Taipa Village Destination, noted
"some signs of business revival since mid-October last year, facilitated
by tourists" who get to cherry pick the "many great deals offered by
our restaurants, merchants, as well as enticing promotions at the
integrated resorts".
Chan continues to be confident about a continuous and gradual pick up
of business at the popular historic tourist zone. Still, although visas
protocols have been relaxed for Mainland Chinese to enter Macau,
there’s another possible deterrent: long queues and a tedious process of
Covid-19 tests before receiving relevant paperwork for entry.
“The [Chinese] government is also promoting domestic travel instead
of travelling abroad. Those visiting Macau are not coming just for
sight-seeing, they’re here to shop or visit the casinos. Most travellers
are coming from the Greater Bay area; Guangdong, Zhongshan and Zhuhai.
50% - 70% are day-trippers; those who stay overnight are staying longer,
an average 1.7 nights, previously it averaged 1.4 nights,” said Rutger
Verschuren, president of the Macau Hotel Association.
Looking ahead into 2021, Verschuren added that general numbers are
still "40% [lower] than 2019 due to a combination of low occupancy and
lower room rates, but we are building momentum quarter to quarter and
expecting a reasonable summer and hoping for a good last quarter of
2021. This period has made hotel management teams review organisation
charts, technologies and how to run a more efficient operation".
Adding to the positive momentum is Sands China's latest hospitality
project, The Londoner. On track to open in the first quarter of 2021 in
early February in time for the Lunar New Year, cross-border travel is
expected to pick up momentum with more Chinese tourists travelling to
Macau over the week-long festive holidays for dining, shopping and
entertainment.
“The upcoming Chinese New Year will be a peak period over the year,
and we are receiving more hotel room bookings. While all hospitality
operators should anticipate lower figures than usual, we are confident
that visitation will gradually rise,” said Kris Kaminsky, senior vice
president of Resort Operations, Sands China.