A citywide campaign to boost shopping and dining in Macao is expected to launch by the end of this month rather than in October as originally scheduled. That’s according to Tai Kin Yip, the director of the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (known by its Portuguese initials DSEDT).
Speaking yesterday to various media outlets, Tai explained that his bureau had received feedback from many local businesses that were hoping for the initiative to start earlier. Over 22,000 businesses are now expected to join the program, which is budgeted at 102 million patacas.
“We planned to launch the citywide consumption rewards scheme at the beginning of October,” the DSEDT head said. “We will strive to roll it out earlier. This is also in line with the needs of the current business situation.”
The three-month long initiative will see shoppers earn e-vouchers when they spend at local businesses on weekdays. These e-vouchers may then be used on weekends, encouraging shoppers to stay in Macao and spend, instead of heading to the Chinese mainland for their leisure time as many now do.
[See more: Macao plans to launch a citywide campaign to keep shoppers in the city]
The upcoming campaign comes on the heels of a similar scheme that was organised in the northern districts earlier this year. Tam noted that the earlier campaign had helped increase business volumes between 10 to 30 percent and drove more pedestrian traffic to the area.
In recent times, Macao’s restaurants and retailers have seen their takings shrink, as more local residents decide to do their spending in the neighbouring mainland city of Zhuhai, where consumers have a wider range of options at a comparatively cheaper price.
Data from Zhuhai’s statistics bureau indicate that over 360,000 Macao and Hong Kong visitors make their way to Zhuhai each month, where they spend a whopping 454 million yuan that would have otherwise gone to businesses in the two SARs.
According to the Macao Statistics and Census Service, retail sales fell by 17.5 percent in the first six months of this year in comparison to the same period in 2023. Restaurant turnover, meanwhile, has also been disappointing, with the business volume in June dropping by 10.4 percent year-on-year.
