According to statistics from Macau’s Public Security Police Force, more than 120,000 visitors entered Macau in the four days from Saturday 30 April to Tuesday 3 May, including 41,544 arrivals on the first day of the Golden Week holiday.
Some souvenir shop owners Inside Asian Gaming spoke to on Wednesday described this year’s May 1 Golden Week as the most successful week for their business in the past six months.
“It has been the best since last year’s Golden Week on 1 October,” a souvenir shop owner in the tourist area near the Ruins of St Paul’s, Ms Leung, explained. She believes that Macau has been a safer city with zero confirmed cases so far this year, which has successfully attracted more tourists to Macau. Ms Leung also pointed out that the government recently changed the validity period of negative COVID-19 tests for visitors to 72 hours, which has helped to drive visitation.
However, she expressed concern over recent COVID-19 cases in Guangzhou, and particularly a high-profile outbreak at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which has seen some areas of the city designated high-risk. Ms Leung said that before Golden Week, she was worried this would affect visitor numbers to Macau, but the impact appears to be limited.
Nevertheless, she explained that preparations for holidays such as this have changed and she no longer prepares additional souvenirs for Golden Week. In her experience, there have been too many instances in the past where outbreaks on the eve of the holidays have seen her goods go to waste.
According to the Public Security Police Force, there were 41,544 arrivals on 30 April with only 22,687 exiting. However, visitor arrivals fell back to 24,212 on 3 May, while the number of visitors exiting increased significantly to 35,727.
Ms Leung told IAG that local merchants are not expecting much business on weekdays but remain optimistic about the summer holidays in July and August.
A tourist from Zhongshan who also spoke with IAG on Wednesday said she came to Macau for the cheap hotel prices and promotions available in many stores.
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes pointed out this week that the 40,000 visitors who entered Macau on 30 April was more than double the average daily visitor arrivals in March (16,997), exceeding government expectations.
She also said the MGTO will continue to focus on the mainland market, and may offer discounted air tickets to attract mainland tourists from more distant provinces.
