IVS expected to boost Macau visits by mid-September

Daily visitors have increased from an average 5,500 to 7,100 after IVS resumption for Zhuhai, but revenue has seen little impact.

Macau.- The consultancy Sandford C. Bernstein says that 12 days on from the resumption of the individual visit scheme (IVS) for Zhuhai province, there was no “obvious recovery” for Macau’s gaming industry.

But it still believes that the resumption of visas for the whole of Guangdong province this week will lead to some signs of recovery.

Analysts Vitaly Umansky, Tianjiao Yu and Kelsey Zhu said: “While the recovery is to be gradual, we expect visa resumption in the entire Guangdong province on August 26 would help boost the visitation data by early-to-mid-September”.

The IVS is the permits system most used by mainland Chinese tourists to visit Macau. The permits were halted in January due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They resumed for Zhuhai on August 12, and will resume for Guangdong on August 26 and for all of for all of mainland China on September 23 if the tally on Covid-19 cases does not arise.

The return of IVS tourists was eagerly waited by Macau’s gaming industry but so far has offered little improvement so far. Daily arrivals have gone up from an average of 5,500 to 7,100.

Bernstein noted that Zhuhai IVS visas still require a seven to 10-day waiting period after application as automated visa issuance is not yet available.

The average daily rate of gaming revenues reported for between August 1 and 23 was MOP41 million (US$5.1 million).