Macau: Number of Visitors Slowly Going Up

The price index of the Macau accommodation sector (-49.89%) has had the biggest year-on-year decrease, while the price index of the clothing and footwear sector (-12.49%), as well as leisure and cultural activities (-7.56%), have gone down as well, reported the authorities.

According to data, Macau has reached the end of the year 2020 with accommodation prices falling by 49.89% over the previous year due to the impact of the pandemic on the main economic sector of the world’s casino capital.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the Tourist Price Index fell by 15.26% “mainly due to a lower hotel room and clothing prices,” according to a statement by the Statistics and Census Service of Macau.

The data also showed a growth in jewelry prices, which offset part of the fall in the Tourist Price Index in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Macau, which has had no case of COVID-19 for more than six months, maintains strong border restrictions, except for mainland China. The city registered the highest number of visitors on New Year’s Eve. Local authorities registered 30.747 visitors on 31 December 2020, up from 28.247 on 20 November during the Macao Grand Prix, and 27.755 on Christmas Day.

The number of visitors had fallen from 2.85 million, or about 92.000 per day, in January 2020, to just 156.394, or about 5.585 per day, in February, due to COVID-19. The number of visitors reached a low of 16.133 or 520 per day in May, but has steadily improved since China re-established the Individual Visit Scheme in August.

Despite the gradual improvement in the number of visitors, the increase is very slight in the territory, which normally receives about three million visitors per month. In 2020, due to COVID-19, gambling operators had hundreds of millions of euros in losses.

According to the latest official figures, Macau received just over 600.000 visitors in November, a drop of 78.1% compared to the same period last year. Between January and November, 5.237.441 visitors entered Macau, a drop of 85.6% compared to the same period last year.

In January 2020 as well as this year, Macau canceled the traditional Lunar New Year firework display as well as the Lunar New Year Celebration Parade because of the pandemic. These events usually attract many families from mainland China.

In 2019, Macau, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, received almost 40 million visitors.