The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said Thursday that the reservation rate of Macau’s hotels for the Chinese New Year holiday period currently stands between just 30% and 50%, although that figure is expected to rise over the next two weeks according to Acting Director Cheng Wai Tong.
“There is still some time before the Chinese New Year holidays and the booking rate is expected to increase,” Cheng said.
He also noted that the hotel occupancy rate was around 63% in 2022, compared with 93% in 2019. Visitation is also expected to increase during the holidays following the recent easing of border restrictions with mainland China and Hong Kong.
“The MGTO expects about 40,000 to 50,000 visitors per day during the Chinese New Year holidays, but the number is not comparable to the 170,000 visitors per day during the same period in 2019, as the traffic to Macau has not yet fully recovered,” Cheng explained.
The pandemic in Macau over the past three years has led to a significant drop in visitation, causing many hotel operators to cut back on staff. Now that Macau has reopened to foreign visitors, some in the hotel industry have reported a lack of manpower to handle the sudden recovery in visitor numbers.
“The MGTO has also received feedback from the hotel industry and is communicating with the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) to find ways to replenish the hotel industry’s manpower in the near future,” Cheng said.
The Acting Director did, however, confirm that group tours from mainland China were yet to resume with the MGTO awaiting news on such resumption from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Meanwhile the MGTO will host a series of activities during the Chinese New Year holidays, including a “float parade” on 24 January in which eight floats from government departments and 10 floats from Macau and the mainland organizations will parade.
