Sands China President Dr Wilfred Wong believes business for Macau’s gaming and hospitality operators will improve in May following the government’s decision to extend the validity period of negative COVID-19 tests for arrivals from Guangdong Province to 72 hours.
The relaxed policy, first eased from 24 hours to 48 hours and then to 72 hours last week, was targeted towards an improved 1 May Golden Week following weeks of falling visitation amid rising COVID-19 cases across parts of mainland China.
Speaking with Inside Asian Gaming at a conference hosted by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions on Friday, Dr Wong said, “I believe that changing the validity period of verification can attract more visitors to Macau – I expect May to be better than April.”
Dr Wong did, however, note that the pandemic situation can evolve rapidly, pointing to the news late last week that 20 employees at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport had tested positive to COVID-19 during regular testing.
The Guangzhou government believes the outbreak was caused by the accidental exposure of some staff to infected passengers and has urged citizens not to leave Guangdong Province unless necessary during the May Day holiday.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments [to our expectations] accordingly,” Dr Wong said.
Sands China last week reported a net loss of US$336 million for the three months to 31 March 2022, widened both from its 1Q21 loss of US$213 million and a Q4 loss of US$245 million.
