Sands China President Dr Wilfred Wong said Tuesday that more than 80% of the company’s hotel rooms are booked out for the upcoming Golden Week, although gaming revenues are still expected to fall short of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic due to the change in customer mix.
In an interview with Hong Kong media outlet Sing Tao Daily, Dr Wong noted that this year’s Golden Week was longer than in previous years due to the National Day holiday eve being a weekend and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday taking place at the same time.
“According to the Macao Government Tourism Office’s forecast, the number of arrivals for Golden Week is optimistic, and the current hotel bookings under [Sands China’s] umbrella are very good, with a booking rate of 80% to 90%.”
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in mainland China runs from 29 September to 30 September, while the National Day holiday runs from 1 to 6 October. The two consecutive festivals mean the entire Golden Week will run for eight days instead of the traditional seven.
MGTO Deputy Director Hoi Io Meng said recently that 100,000 tourists are expected to enter Macau each day during Golden Week.
As for gaming revenue’s, Dr Wong said, “The current visitor flow has roughly returned to the pre-pandemic level, but there is still a gap between the gaming revenue and that of the pre-pandemic period.”
He attributed this to the decline in VIP customers.
“Traffic in Macau is good and the mid-pack is back strong,” he explained.
“We have increased our number of overseas offices, such as in Southeast Asia and other places outside Asia, and will also organize promotional activities. However, as the number of international flights has been slow to recover and long-haul travel is relatively expensive, we will focus on overseas visitors from Asia first.”
While Macau’s top-line gaming revenues will struggle to return to their peak, the increased focus on the higher-margin mass segments means profitability will likely exceed pre-COVID levels in the near future.
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