Macau: visitors for FY2020 will be down by 90%

The Macao Government Tourism Office expects visitor numbers to remain down by 90% against 2019.

Macau.- According to the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the final tally of visitor numbers for the full year 2020 could well remain down by 90 per cent year-on-year.

MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, said: “We estimated that… compared with last year, the decline for this year should be over 90 per cent”

In the first eight months of this year, just above 3.57 million visitors entered Macau, a year-on-year decline of 87 per cent, according to data released in late September. Despite expectations, Golden Week saw little recovery.

Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue for the first nine months of 2020 stood at nearly MOP38.61 billion (US$4.8 billion), down 82.5 per cent from the same period in 2019.

Despite the fall, the MGTO said the priority of the government was to preserve local people’s health. MGTO’s director said: “The public also would not want to see us relaxing too easily our entry restrictions, because they are still concerned about the pandemic.”

Only visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong can currently enter Macau. Visitors from China must have a certificate of a negative Covid-19 test issued within seven days of arrival to avoid quarantine.

For travellers from Hong Kong, the certificate must be issued within 24 hours of intended arrival and they must still undergo a 14-day quarantine.