The director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, says she expects the number of visitor arrivals to Macau will reach between 6 million and 10 million in 2021, but prospect during the Chinese New Year holiday remain bleak.
“We expect daily visitor arrivals during the CNY holiday will be around 16,000 to 20,000 per day due to the call of ‘stay in place’ in the mainland,” Fernandes told media on Wednesday.
Last year, the annual visitors number dropped by 85% year-on-year to 5.9 million, but surged by 150% from Q3 to Q4 following resumption of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS).
On the New Year’s Eve, Macau recorded 30,668 visitor arrivals – the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic last year.
The average occupancy rate of hotels, which fell 62.2 percentage points in 2020, also grew 28.6% from Q3 to Q4 before the latest wave of COVID-19 infections across mainland China saw travel slow once again.
Brokerage Bernstein said this week that gross gaming revenues of Macau’s operators was trending 17% lower month-on-month in February, adding, “The travel impediments will lead to reduced visitation into Macau for the next few weeks at least, with Chinese New Year visitation being impacted.”
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