Amid repeated outbreaks in Mainland China, monthly gross gaming revenues reported in the Macau SAR have continued to decrease this year, with April reporting a total of MOP2.6 billion (US$331.2 million), a 68 per cent year-on-year plunge and the lowest monthly tally reported since August, 2020 when only MOP1.3 billion were registered.
The result also represents a 27 per cent drop from an already disappointing MOP3.6 billion March total, data published by the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) shows, with gaming results between January and April this year falling by 36 per cent year-on-year to MOP20.4 billion.
In April travel restrictions for travel between Macau and Mainland China remained in effect, with Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, locking down some of its areas due to new cases.
This led SAR authorities to maintain policies that required any people travelling from Guangdong – including via land checkpoints with Zhuhai city – must hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within 24 hours proving they are ‘negative’ for Covid-19 infection.
Average daily travel entries and exits in Macau in April have managed to recover to 37,100 last week but remained subdued due to China COVID outbreaks and restrictive travel and border control.
Macau further relaxed COVID measures starting from April 25, with travellers entering from Guangdong now required to present a COVID test up to 72 hours prior to entry, and with the list of Chinese cities with arrival quarantine requirements reduced from more than 40 to 30.
Last week Guangzhou authorities also cancelled hundreds of flights and began testing 5.6 million people over one suspected Covid case, something expected to impact the Labour Day holiday period visitation levels.
Tourism authorities indicated that 41,584 tourists visited Macau on the first day of the Labour Day holiday period on April 30, the highest single-day number of visitors so far this year.
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes recently said she expected an average of 25,000 visitors to enter the SAR per day during the long weekend, and an average hotel occupancy rate of 60 per cent.
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