The surge in local cases in the nearby Guangdong Province has already impacted the daily number of tourist visitors reported in the SAR, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said today (Tuesday).
“Over the last two days since the Guangdong cases started to be more acute we’ve seen visitor arrival numbers fall down immediately. Two days ago it was only 16,000 and yesterday it was about 20,000 when compared to the numbers in most of May, 25,000 to 30,000 people a day. You can see the immediate impact,” Fernandes on the sidelines of the Macau Grand Prix Museum inauguration ceremony.
“As we know Guangdong makes up a very important part of the local visitor mix so I think at this point in time we have to be cautious and follow all the instructions”
Since Sunday some 20 new locally confirmed cases were found in Guangzhou and two in Foshan, with transport restrictions put in place to control the spread.
People leaving the city from airports, train stations and shuttle bus stations need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days, unless they were transiting, according to provincial authorities.
Of the 794,819 visitors reported in Macau in April, 48 per cent came from the major nine cities in Guangdong.
Meanwhile, May reported the highest gross gaming revenues since the pandemic outbreak, some MOp10.4 billion, thanks to the boost provided by the Golden Week, but the recent surge in cases in the neighbouring province could lead to another drop in results.
Still, the MGTO Director noted the department would maintain its ‘Macau Week’ tourism promotional initiatives in other mainland cities outside Guangdong.
“We want to get more visitors from other provinces. Although Guangdong residents come in very large numbers their average length of stay would be much lower when compared to other provinces. That’s why our work in other provinces is so necessary, these are the people that stay 3 to 5 nights. Some even stayed during the entire Labour Day Golden Week,” the MGTO head added.
However, Fernandes underlined the pandemic situation is still very “volatile” and the department would need to be in a “highly adaptive mode” to face any sudden changes.
Also speaking in the same event, Chief Executive also again reiterated that authorities do not plan to impose quarantine for all Guangdong arrivals, and again assuring the current targetted restrictions in place are sufficient.
“We have a mechanism for Guangdong when there is an area with an issue we will first impose a 14-day quarantine. If they don’t have a green code they also can’t leave Guangdong,” Ho added.
So far local authorities have imposed targetted quarantine requirements for people who have in the previous 14 days been in specific areas in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan, such as a Guangzhou Liwan District where one of the outbreaks is believed to have originated.
More than 500 flights at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport were also cancelled, due to the spike in cases but the CE noting that visitors can also come directly to Macau via the Shanghai, Chengdu or Hangzhou airports.
