Macau extends travel incentives for Hong Kong residents

Tourists travelling to Macau via Hong Kong will continue to enjoy free single-leg journeys by bus or ferry from participating carriers, said Macau’s tourism boss.

Macau.- Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has announced the extension of travel incentives for visitors, including free single-leg journeys by bus or ferry from participating carriers. 

Tourists travelling to Macau via Hong Kong will now benefit from the deal until the end of June. The “buy one, get one” scheme, which had been promoted for Hong Kong residents, will also be extended. In order to qualify for the free single-leg ticket, visitors must stay at least one night in Macau.

Fernandes said that the extension of the scheme was to attract more tourists from overseas to Macau. She also announced a new subsidy scheme for visitors on package tours, coming in from overseas places or Taiwan. Subsidies for package tours on the Chinese mainland are already available under certain conditions.

The move comes as Macau’s daily visitor numbers have recently reached almost 100,000. However, the volume of international visitors remains “relatively low” due to “transport constraints”, according to a colleague of Senna Fernandes.

One of the major constraints is the limited flight frequency to Macau International Airport. Meanwhile, some international air ticket prices remain high, relative to pre-pandemic trading.

The Macau government had earlier said it had budgeted around MOP600m (US$74.2m) this year to stimulate inbound tourism, including via consumer roadshows on the Chinese mainland and overseas, and subsidised promotions such as the “buy-one-get-one-free” offer on certain air tickets to the city.

The average daily inbound visitor volume from March 1 to 22 was approximately 65,000, a 13.4 per cent increase on February’s daily average. In January and February combined, Macau registered almost 3 million inbound visitors, following the lifting of most Covid-19-related countermeasures in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.