Almost 120,000 visitors have been entering Macao each day during the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, according to TDM, with total arrivals standing at more than 566,000 on Tuesday.
But not everyone is benefiting from the influx during the so-called Golden Week. While stores and eateries at traditional tourism hotspots like the Ruins of St. Paul’s were experiencing a surge in customers, more off-the-beaten-track destinations – such as northern Macao and older districts – don’t appear to be sharing in the spoils.
One merchant on Rua das Estalagens told TDM that while there was more foot traffic than usual, people weren’t spending money. “Many people got poorer during the pandemic, that’s realistic,” he acknowledged.
[See more: Information on crowd levels around Macao will be available in Golden Week]
The president of the Industry and Commerce Federation of Macau Central and Southern districts, Lei Check Kuan, said that better crowd management could help funnel potential customers towards streets and shops that visitors wouldn’t necessarily discover on their own.
“The authorities should actually put up some large-size billboards for people coming down Calçada do Amparo, or some signage on the ground,” he noted.
Retailers in Macao have had a challenging year, with many locals preferring to cross the border and spend money on the mainland, while tourists tighten their belts. In the second quarter of 2023, retail sales fell by more than 10 percent and per capita visitor spending plummeted by nearly 15 percent compared to the first three months of the year.
