Only one of the 10 mainland Chinese cities recently added to the Individual Visit Scheme is connected to Macao by a direct flight. That’s according to a survey by specialist gaming industry news website GGR Asia.
The website found that only travellers from Qingdao, in China’s northeastern Shandong province, can travel to Macao without having to go via another airport, by using Air Macau, which offers four flights a week.
Holidaymakers from the other nine cities will have to travel via either Hong Kong or Zhuhai.
According to a recent poll by CLSA, 45 percent of mainland Chinese gamblers prefer to come to Macao via a direct flight.
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While a number of new international destinations have been added to the list of places directly served by flights from Macao, there has been little indication of when or if direct flights to the other cities covered by the scheme will commence.
Besides Qingdao, the cities are Xi’an, Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lhasa, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan, and Urumqi. The Individual Visit Scheme allows residents of eligible cities to travel to Macao and Hong Kong without the need to join a package tour.
In Macao’s neighbouring SAR, local flag carrier Cathay Pacific has come under intense pressure to commence direct flights to the cities newly added to the scheme.
Tommy Tam Kwong-shun, chairman of the Society of IATA Passenger Agents, said it was the airline’s “unshirkable responsibility” to add extra flights.
Correction appended, 7 June: This article has been amended to better describe the work of GGRAsia.
