MGTO: Macau hotel occupancy to reach 80-90% in July and August

The Macao Government Tourism Office expects hotel occupancy rates to exceed 80 per cent this month and 90 per cent in August.

Macau.- Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), has forecast hotel occupancy rates of between 80 and 90 per cent in July and August. Fernandes noted that the average room rates in Macau are at similar levels to those seen in 2019 while occupancy hit 89 per cent last week

While some of Macau’s hotel operators are still addressing labour recruitment and training challenges, they aim to maximise capacity for the summer season. Fernandes acknowledged that certain roles, such as sales, back-office, and room attendant positions, still need to be filled.

Earlier this year, over 3,000 rooms, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the total, were off the market due to labour constraints. In response, operators have made efforts to prepare for the increase in summer demand by training and reallocating workers from other departments.

Macau ups full-year expectations to 24 million visitors

De Senna Fernandes said that Macau has increased its estimates for visitor arrivals for the full year from 20 million to 24 million. It received 11.6 million visitors in the first half of this year.

De Senna Fernandes expressed satisfaction with the increasing arrivals, after July’s average daily visitor arrivals exceeded 80,000, with over 100,000 visitors recorded during a single weekend. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong visitors have rebounded to nearly 60 per cent and 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels respectively, but overseas tourists remain at only 20 per cent of their pre-Covid-19 levels.

See also: MGTO forecasts 80,000 daily visitor arrivals in August