“Shenzhen is now a more popular weekend destination than Macao among Hongkongers looking for great deals on food, accommodation and designer shopping,” proclaimed the South China Morning Post yesterday – and the fact is not lost on the Macao travel industry.
The president of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, Andy Wu, has urged the local government to pay more attention to the steady decline in Hong Kong visitor arrivals – most recently during the Lunar New Year break.
Speaking to local media, the tourism expert pointed out that there was an 8.9 percent drop in the number of travellers coming from the neighbouring SAR over the recent holidays, a figure that he considers to be “relatively big.”
Wu said the fall was the result of easier vehicular access to the mainland for Hong Kong motorists, who are now allowed to take their vehicles into Guangdong province for up to 30 days at a time.
[See more: Macao welcomed 1.69 million visitors over the Lunar New Year holiday]
Public transport links between Hong Kong and Shenzhen are also excellent, with high-speed trains connecting the two cities in just 15 minutes.
Wu added that the situation “sends a message” to the authorities to monitor the Hong Kong market over the next several months for signs of an ongoing decline.
“If there is [a continued drop], then the authorities need to boost this market some more,” Wu said, adding that Macao needed to secure its domestic markets as well as expanding the number of international visitors.
Full-year figures from 2024 showed the Hong Kong market stagnating at 7,179,722 arrivals – a decrease of 0.2 percent.
