With the announcement today that the issuing of individual and group tourist visas will resume from August 12 for Zhuhai residents first, further easing of visa restrictions for other Guangdong Province cities or maybe the whole province is expected by the end of the month or in September, analysts from Sanford C. Bernstein stated.
The announcement today by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U brings hopes for a quick resumption of the full IVS scheme, which previously covered 49 mainland cities and has been suspended since January and an essential part of visitation from the mainland to the SAR.
Bernstein analysts noted that although the impact in local gross gaming revenues from having new IVS and tour visas issued for Zhuhai’s 1.7 million inhabitants will only add a few percentage points to local gaming results but is another ‘baby step’ in the right direction for local economic recovery.
Still, with Guangdong representing 46 per cent of all visitation to the city in 2019 and about 30 per cent of mass market revenue and about 20 per cent of VIP revenue, having the province’s population again in the picture was seen as a crucial step.
Meanwhile, limitations imposed on Hong Kong residents for entry in Macau are not expected to be lifted in the next few weeks and the city still faces a wave of new cases.
It was also revealed today that starting from 12:00am of August 12 entry in Mainland China without quarantine restrictions will be allowed to local residents who have not been in Hong Kong, Taiwan or overseas in the last 14 days prior to entry and who hold a negative Covid-19 nucleic acid test taken in the last seven days
