End to Zhuhai quarantine may not save Macau Golden Week

Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s Chief Executive, has said that even if Zhuhai in Guangdong drops its inbound quarantine, it won’t help Macau’s tourism arrivals for October Golden Week.

Macau.- Authorities are fearing a washout during the highly-anticipated October Golden Week holiday, when the tourism and gaming sectors were hoped to receive a boost. Expectations have plummeted due to the appearance of local Covid-19 cases.

Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s Chief Executive has said that an end to inbound quarantine in Zhuhai would not be a “major assistance” for Macau’s tourism sector. Ho Iat Seng said the lifting of Zhuhai’s inbound quarantine rule – at present due to last until Friday – would happen only if Macau’s Covid-19 state remains stable.

It is still unknown what would be the validity period of the negative Covid-19 tests required for travellers.

Macau arrivals plummet after new Covid-19 cases

Arrivals to Macau fell by 70 per cent over the weekend as Macau announced the detection of two local Covid-19 cases and imposed countermeasures similar to those imposed in August.

A new mass testing for Covid-19 is being carried out and is expected to be faster than the last one. As of Monday, almost 607,000 tests had been completed and no new cases were detected.

However, analysts at Bernstein Research predict that October’s Golden Week will now be weaker than expected. They expect the city to see a recovery later in the month and into November.

They added: “Longer term, Individual Visit Scheme eVisa, group visa restart, and Hong Kong travel resumption will be necessary to drive gross gaming revenue (GGR) upwards.”

Analysts at JP Morgan Securities believe many Chinese tourists will cancel their trips to Macau to avoid being quarantined.