Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng said he is confident that Macau can recover from the recent drop in visitor arrivals and that the total visitor arrivals for 2015 would exceed 32 million, a slight increase on the 31.5 million registered in 2014.
In July, Macau received around 2.6 million visitors, down 3.8 per cent year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China decreased by 6.1 per cent compared to the same period last year. In the first seven months of 2015, visitor arrivals totalled 17.4 million, representing a decrease of 3.5 per cent year-on year, as well.
“We are very confident that the number of visitors will be similar to the figures we planned for in the beginning of the year. We also don’t want it to be too much or too less. We hope not to have too many visitors come to Macau during holidays and festivals. We hope to have more visitors coming during off-peak seasons,” Mr. Tam said to local TV broadcaster TDM.
Quality of life
It has been reported that the Hong Kong retail industry has voiced its hope for more cities in Mainland China to be included in the Individual Visa Scheme (IVS) to travel to the neighbouring SAR in order to recover the slumping tourism and retail industry.
When asked whether Macau would consider making a similar request to the central government, Alexis Tam said there is no such plan yet as currently Macau’s economy is stable and the city should focus on developing its own infrastructure and supporting facilities.
The Secretary said that recklessly opening up too many IVS cities resulting in too many tourists might affect the quality of life of local residents. He further indicated that the priority should be diversifying the source of tourists as in attracting more tourists from long-haul destinations, as well as enhancing regional co-operation, especially with neighbouring Guangdong Province.
Well prepared
The Government Information Bureau (GCS) also issued a press release during the weekend, saying local security authorities had boosted border crossing capacity and crowd control at tourist sites.
‘To date, 244 immigration counters and 251 e-Channel kiosks have been established at Macau’s border crossings. Together with the extension of border crossing opening hours, these have greatly enhanced Macau’s border crossing capacity,’ the statement reads.
The statement adds that the Public Security Police, the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau and the Macau Customs Service have introduced a variety of measures for convenient border crossing, and established close contact and co-operation with Mainland China’s immigration department, to provide efficient border crossing services.
In addition, regarding order control at tourist attractions, the Unitary Police Service, the Public Security Police and Fire Service have implemented crowd management measures on four occasions around the Ruins of St Paul’s and Almeida Ribeiro Avenue since last year, achieving effective results.
