Macau arrivals plummet after new Covid-19 cases
The new appearance of local Covid-19 cases has caused the number of tourist arrivals to plummet by 70 per cent.
Macau.- 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.
“Golden Week will be weaker than expected due to the Covid situation and we forecast October GGR to be down 71 per cent versus 2019.”
Bernstein Research
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.”
They believe Macau is unlikely to remove its travel restrictions for people coming from places beyond mainland China before 2022.
Analysts at JP Morgan Securities also believe expectations for the national holiday could be deeply affected by new countermeasures.
They said: “While there’s still a possibility that travel restrictions could be lifted before/during Golden Week, we think it’s a foregone conclusion that it will be an ungolden holiday, as many players are likely to cancel the trips to avoid risks of being quarantined upon their return to mainland.”
Authorities have suspended the “Stay, Dine and See Macao” initiative that let Macau residents book government-subsidised staycations at hotels and guest houses.
Gaming law consultation session cancelled due to Covid-19 cases
Due to the new Covid-19 cases, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has confirmed that the first of four public sessions on gaming laws has been cancelled. It is still unknown when the session will be rescheduled. The DICJ said a new date and time would be communicated in the following days.
