Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said the resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) forms part of the plan of the SAR government to facilitate greater interaction between Macau and mainland China.
Underlining 15 July – the date Guangdong Province removed mandatory quarantine on visitors returning from Macau – as a particularly important turning point, Lei reiterated that progress so far has clearly demonstrated that Macau is looking to increase its interactions with mainland China in phases.
“On July 15, the mainland government adjusted its policy and residents of the two places resumed normal interactions, which is an important turning point for Macau,” he said. “On July 28, the mainland further relaxed the restrictions for Macau visitors to access the entire Guangdong Province.
“We must maintain our preventive works on controlling the epidemic, and we will evaluate the risk to push the interactions between the two places.
“The SAR government has kept communicating with the central government and has done pressure tests on our borders.”
Lei also revealed that the SAR government would launch policies to attract more Chinese tourists to visit Macau.
He noted that the government has been actively working with stakeholders across the city and has adjusted down its gaming tax budget for 2020 by 49% to MOP$49.98 billion (US$6.26 billion).
Lei said the epidemic has already lasted longer than the government originally expected, and would pay close attention to the economic situation in the third and fourth quarters of this year to consider whether the government’s budget needs to be adjusted again.
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