The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has asked local travel agencies to suspend tour group operations and urged visitors to reconsider any upcoming trips to Macau in the wake of last week’s devastating T10 typhoon.
The latest setback to the city’s vital tourist trade comes as the MGTO revealed it has received at least 22 enquiries and complaints regarding visitor itineraries, taxi services and travel agency services and hotel room rates during the Typhoon Hato clean-up. It has subsequently requested the suspension of travel arrangements until 30 August, while visitors “are advised to check with the respective hotels for their latest situations.”
In response to reports that some smaller operations had raised room rates to take advantage of a shortage of available rooms, the MGTO said it “has scrutinized room prices of local hotels and guest houses, and has … discovered no escalation among room prices from their original amount declared by hotel and guest house establishments to MGTO, while some online booking websites were found to have raised their room prices.
“MGTO will continue to check on hotel room prices and will impose penalties upon any irregularities according to stipulated regulations.”
As of 17:00 on Monday, the MGTO confirmed that all 64 hotels and guest houses rated three-star and above now had full water and power supply. Of Macau’s 45 two-star properties, two are still without power and water and two more are without water while one can’t be reached.
The devastation of Typhoon Hato has forced the government to cancel a number of key tourism events including the 29th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest as well as the Trophy Design Contest, Photo Contest, Student Drawing Contest and Fireworks Carnival of the International Fireworks Display Contest.
However, any negative impact on Macau’s gaming industry isn’t expected to last long with analysts predicting a fast rebound in the coming weeks.
“We think Macau GGR will rebound sharply this week and in September, as the temporary shutdown of casinos/facilities this past week will not have any permanent impact,” said Morgan Stanley analysts Praveen Choudhary and Alex Poon in a Monday note.
“Mass revenue could be lower this month due to cancellation of some group tours and partial closure of mass floors last week,” they said, however, “We visited Macau last Friday. While many tables were closed on the mass floor, the tables in operation were mostly occupied and minimum bets were not lowered, suggesting strong demand.
“Most casinos resumed power and water supply during the weekend and border gates/ferries have also resumed normal operation.
“VIP rolling chip volume at one of the junkets was tracking at 50% year-on-year but is now tracking at 40% year-on-year due to the typhoons. We expect VIP to bounce back faster than mass.”
