Tourism contraction in Macau after protests in Hong Kong

November and December looked grim according to official numbers

Macau.- The number of visitors suffered a contraction in the last two months according to local media reports. The director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Fernandes, said visitor arrivals in November and December will show a relevant reduction related, in part, to protests in Hong Kong.

In November, Macau saw a 35.3 percent decline in visitors arriving as part of tour packages, to 508,700, with a 39 percent decline in Chinese package tourists. 

Fernandes said the decrease was seen mainly in the number of visitors as part of Hong Kong-Macau joint tour groups.  She also told local media that she believes November may be the first month to see an overall year-on-year contraction in visitors in 2019. 

This year, demonstrations in Hong Kong were a daily matter. Last weekend it took place a huge march pro-democracy.

CNN informed that hundreds of thousands of protesters all ages began assembling at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay yesterday, carrying large banners, bearing slogans such as “Free Hong Kong.”

The mostly peaceful event marked the first time since mid-August that a march organized by the CHRF had been granted police approval. The group was responsible for two back-to-back weekend marches in early June, which it estimates drew a combined total of more than 3 million people.

According to Fernandes, this situation in Hong Kong is one of the reasons why tourism is feeling weak in the region.