According to the head of the Hoteliers and Innkeepers Association, the hotel occupancy rate in Macao during the Lunar New Year holidays – a peak period for the local hospitality industry – will reach between 90 and 95 percent.
In an interview with local media, Cheung Kin Chung said that around 60 percent of local hotels had already been pre-booked for the Lunar New Year holiday and that more business was expected in the week to come.
Accommodation prices are also anticipated to rise to a “reasonable level” during the festive period, with Cheung forecasting an increase of roughly 10 to 15 percent. “Perhaps some of the comparatively higher room prices will be concentrated on presidential and luxury suites, but the mass market for rooms will remain at a stable and reasonable price point,” the industry representative said.
The chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, Andy Wu, said that based on experience from last year’s Chinese New Year, the price per night of some hotels in the Cotai area may reach around 5,000 patacas, and “could rise to around 6,000 patacas this year.”
Wu added that he believed there would be very little possibility of hotels in Macao charging “sky-high rates” due to the government’s monitoring.
[See more: Will Macao see 39 million visitors in 2025?]
One mainland visitor who was interviewed by TDM said that some hotels in the city were charging rates as high as 3,000 patacas and 4,000 patacas per night during Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, another mainland tourist revealed that a rate around the 2,000-pataca mark was “acceptable” for her family of four, otherwise she would rather spend the night in Zhuhai.
With the implementation of the multiple-entry permits for Zhuhai and Hengqin residents on 1 January, Macao’s hotels can expect a windfall from the influx of mainland visitors. There are already clear signs that the policy is leading to a surge in travellers, with mainland authorities reporting that around 430,000 crossings were made at the Border Gate on Saturday – a new five-year high.
Similarly, the average daily number of entries and exits at the Border Gate between the 1 and 18 January was nearly 360,000 – a more than 20 percent increase over the total recorded during the same period last year.
Customs officials expect the significant flow of people at the checkpoint to continue until the middle of next month, with hopes of a new single day record for crossings being set during this period.
For this year, the Macao government expects the city to draw 39 million visitors – an increase of roughly 11.75 percent in comparison to 2024’s total of 34.9 million.
