Almost 3,000 new hotel rooms are under construction in Macao, within the five new hotels currently being developed, TDM reports.
Citing figures from the Land and Urban Construction Bureau, TDM noted that seven more hotel projects with a combined capacity of 900 rooms were in the planning phase as of the second quarter of this year.
It’s not known what categories the new hotels will fall into, in terms of star ratings, or where they’ll be located – but the government has been pushing for an increase in budget-friendly accommodation options in older parts of the city.
[See more: Competition from Hengqin hotels is healthy, says local hotelier]
As of June, there were 48,408 hotel rooms across 149 hotels in the SAR, according to figures from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO). Almost 80 percent of the rooms were rated either five-star or four-star, while just 4.1 percent were two-star. Another 2.4 percent were categorised by MGTO as “economical accommodation establishments”.
Figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed hotels’ average occupancy rate in June was 82.7 percent.
[See more: A new budget hotel could be going up near the Ruins of St Paul’s]
Macao is known to have a shortage of affordable accommodation. This dearth is enabling neighbouring Hengqin (part of the mainland) to position itself as a cheaper alternative for the city’s Chinese visitors. As of May, a new multiple entry Hengqin-Macao visa scheme for mainlanders has let them spend days in the SAR while overnighting in Hengqin.
One development currently underway in Cotai will see the SAR lose hotel rooms, however: the Sheraton Grand’s conversion into the Londoner Grand. While the Sheraton, Macao’s biggest hotel, boasted 4,000 rooms, the Londoner Grand will have just 2,405.
