Macau prepares for Golden Week

Gaming operators expect to “turn around the perception of travel to Macau” with a successful Golden Week holidays.

Macau.- The Macao Government Tourism Office has announced details of its preparations for the annual Golden Week holiday which begins tomorrow.

It has outlined Covid-19 measures designed in cooperation with the city’s Health Bureau, and aimed at tourism industry staff and consumers.

The steps included efforts to spread the volume of incoming tourists from mainland China across the city’s various land-based checkpoints to avoid crowding.

There was also a reminder on the need for hotels to maintain accurate records of guest information at the time of check-in.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, hotel occupancy during Golden Week was often seen as a positive indicator for levels of gaming activity. Now, the intention is to show visitors that travel to Macau is safe amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Linda Chen, vice chairman and chief operating officer of local casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd, told business news outlet Bloomberg: “Everyone’s expectation is to do a percentage of the past year’s [casino revenue]. No one is expecting to have an immediate rebound.

“We need to do it step by step. To have a successful, issue-free Golden Week period will turn around the whole perception of travel to Macau.”

The number of guests who checked in at the city’s hotels and guesthouses in August stood at 184,000, down 85.5 per cent from last year. Locals accounted for 67.4 per cent, or 124,000, of guests, an increase of 137 per cent year-on-year.

The tally of local guests also represented a month-to-month increase of 52.4 per cent, according to the statistics bureau.