Macau GGR down 37% for second week of August
Macau’s GGR was down 37 per cent week-on-week due to local Covid-19 cases and the decline in tourist arrivals.
Macau.- Macau’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) continues to decline. In the second week of August, GGR was MOP78m(US$9.7m), down 37 per cent when compared to MOP125m (US$15.6m) in the first week.
The figure, the lowest since last September, was the result of a community outbreak of Covid-19 during the first week of August.
Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said Macau’s GGR plummeted due to travel restrictions intensified by mainland China due to the outbreak. The number of visitors declined 78 per cent when compared to the previous month.
According to authorities, the situation is now under control. The government carried out mass testing for Covid-19 in which 716,251 people were tested, all of them returning negative results. Leisure venues will be allowed to reopen from August 18.
Macau’s GGR for the first fifteen days of August was MOP1.55bn (US$193m). The month-to-date average daily rate is MOP103m (US$13m), down 87 per cent when compared to August 2019 levels and down 62 per cent compared to July’s figures.
Analysts expected Macau’s GGR for August to be down 60 per cent when compared to August 2019 and down 30 per cent when compared to July 2021.
Andy Wu Keng Kuong, president of Macau Travel Industry Council, said the city expects an average hotel occupancy rate of less than 50 per cent for the month.
He said: “We hope that the local Covid-19 situation can be controlled within 14 days so that hospitality businesses here can gradually pick up starting from late August.”
Macau International Airport Co Ltd revealed that nearly 1,200 flights out of 2,000 were cancelled amid the emergence of local Covid-19 cases in Macau. The day after the news, the daily tally of visitor numbers plummeted by 86.1 per cent to 1,800.
