Discomfort and lengthy delays at Macau’s Border Gate marred the busy Lunar New Year holiday as an estimated 1 million travelers stretched the immigration checkpoint beyond its capacity.
The Macau Daily Times, citing a report by Chinese newspaper Si Man, said overcrowding at the gate forced police to block crowds trying to leave the city for several hours on Tuesday night, and a “chaotic” situation followed when some travelers tried to force the blockade.
Travelers and residents both expressed dissatisfaction with the “tidal flow” policy, according to the Times, and head of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, Andy Wu Keng Kuong, said police were not prepared when they decided to enforce it. But Lei Siu Peng, commissioner of Macau’s Public Security Force, responded that the 31 departure channels at the crossing were not enough to handle the record crowds experienced over the weeklong holiday and that police had responded “quickly and appropriately”.
Public broadcaster TDM reported that queues on the Zhuhai side of the crossing reached to the entrance of the underground bus terminal. Some visitors also complained of being stranded at the gate overnight, unaware that it closes at midnight and unable to find accommodations at the city’s hotels, which were reported to be 100% booked.
Through Wednesday, more than 550,000 people were reported by the Macau Government Tourist Office to have entered the city from all checkpoints, an increase of more than 20% over the same period last year. Travel from mainland China, most of which flows through the Border Gate, exceeded 110,000, a 25% increase.
Officials in Zhuhai said 10 temporary immigration channels were being opened to handle the overflow, which was expected to extend into this weekend.
The Border Gate is being expanded on the mainland side, but manpower shortages have delayed its completion. The first phase, which will boost daily traffic capacity to 350,000, was supposed to be open by New Year’s but has been pushed back to sometime in the first half of the year. The second stage, which could be completed by year’s end, will boost capacity to 500,000, matching capacity on the Macau side.
Macau Chief Executive Chui Sai On was in Beijing in January to obtain approval for a proposed second border crossing on the Macau peninsula.
While some commentators suggest that visitation has gone beyond the ability of the city’s infrastructure and room inventory to handle it, MGTO Director Helena de Senna Fernandes insists that is not the case. “I believe we still have the capacity to handle the visitors,” she told TDM. “You can’t just use this festive period to assess Macau’s tourism capacity.”
She also warned against any “sudden change” to the mainland’s Individual Travel Scheme, which some say needs to be revised.
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