Ho Iat Seng, Macau\u2019s chief executive, has said the government is still negotiating with mainland China on resumption of the e-visa programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Macau.- Authorities in Macau are in talks with mainland China about restarting the electronic version of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS)<\/strong>\u00a0but it seems nothing will change in the short term. The IVS was suspended completely at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was later reintroduced but\u00a0only through in-person applications<\/strong>, which\u00a0can take up to two weeks to be approved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The return of group visas and the IVS are eagerly waited by Macau\u2019s gaming and tourism industries to improve visitor numbers. Ho Iat Seng<\/a>, Macau\u2019s chief executive said the removal of travel barriers with Hong Kong and mainland China may happen next year. However, it will take more time to resume travel for foreign nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ho Iat Seng said: “If we open up the borders to foreign nationals, it\u2019s going to be risky and we put ourselves in a position where we could be disadvantaged as we are stuck in the middle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO)<\/strong> has recently reported that average daily visits continue to increase<\/strong>. November 12 saw the highest figure of tourist arrivals<\/a> since the beginning of the month with a total of 30,105 visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average daily rate of visitors was 25,433 between November 5 and November 11 inclusive<\/strong>. The increase, when compared to the first weeks of the previous month, was mainly attributed to relaxation in some travel restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, analysts predicted the number of visitor arrivals won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until at least 2025<\/strong>. It was also revealed Macau\u2019s non-gaming spending will also return to 2019 levels of nearly MOP64.08bn (US$7.9bn) by 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMacau GGR down 18% in the second week of November<\/h2>\n\n\n\n