While fewer locals are choosing to stay in Macao’s hotels – now they can easily leave the city – guests from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are stoking the supply of accommodation.
Macao tourism
Even with the borders shut last year, the MGTO claims to be well on track with its ambitious tourism agenda.
Has the tourism recovery already peaked? Figures showing another straight month of decline pose tough questions for the sector.
The number is less than 60 percent of the total number of visitors recorded during the first half of 2019, before the pandemic hit.
They make up a tiny fraction of the overall total, many are here for less than a day, and hardly any come from Portuguese-speaking countries.
There were no significant increases in the total number of guests, average lengths of stay or the proportion of guests from long-haul destinations.
UM Professor Glenn McCartney says if Macao wants to diversify its tourism offerings, it needs to import more talent.
Fewer visitors stayed the night and those who did were not inclined to stay any longer than visitors in the preceding month, while less than five percent of visitors were foreign.
The government says it is working on a scheme that will allow passengers arriving in Hong Kong to pick up their bags on the other side of the estuary – as well as avoid Hong Kong immigration.
