Macau GGR down 48% for first week of August
Macau’s GGR was down 48 per cent when compared to the last week of July, registering the lowest daily GGR since last September.
Macau.- Macau’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) declined by 48 per cent in the first week of August after a community outbreak of Covid-19. At MOP125m (US$15.6m), the figure is the lowest registered since last September.
Sanford Bernstein said: “The week’s sharp GGR deterioration was caused by the travel disruptions after Macau detected four local Covid-19 cases on August 3.”
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 now expects an average hotel occupancy rate of less than 50 per cent for August.
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.”
However, he said it may take another month to see a recovery in tourist arrivals. Ma Chio Hong, a member of the Public Security Police, reported that only 1,800 tourists arrived in Macau on Wednesday while on Tuesday there were 12,900 arrivals.
Authorities had already implemented new controls requiring all visitors to Macau from any mainland Chinese city to hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate for Covid-19. Mainland China continues to be the only country to have a largely quarantine-free travel bubble with Macau.
