Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said Monday that Macau’s hotel occupancy rate is expected to exceed 90% during the two weekends of the Macau Grand Prix.
This year’s Macau Grand Prix marks the 70th anniversary of the event and will be held over two consecutive weekends, starting from Saturday 11 November, with a total of 11 races.
The Macau Government held a blessing ceremony for the event on Monday, with Senna Fernandes telling media it is sure to attract more tourists.
“The MGTO does not yet have data on hotel occupancy rates during the event, but expects more visitors to be attracted to Macau over the two weekends of racing,” she said. “It is expected that the hotel occupancy rate in Macau will reach 90% during the Grand Prix.”
Macau’s visitor arrivals reached 2,301,056 in September, an increase of 310% compared to September 2022 but a drop of 28.6% versus August. In the first three quarters of this year, there were a total of 19,928,168 visitor arrivals, an increase of 360% year-on-year.
The Statistics and Census Service has not yet released hotel occupancy rate data for September, but Macau’s hotel occupancy rate in August was 88.7%.
Senna Fernandes also noted that there are some MICE events in Macau during the Grand Prix period, which may create a mutual pulling effect.
These include MGS Entertainment Show on 14 November and the Macau Food Festival on 17 November.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ao Ieong U, revealed in a separate interview on Monday that the budget for this year’s Grand Prix is approximately MOP$260 million (US$32 million).
This means that sponsorship from Macau’s six concessionaires covers is around 46% of the cost of the whole event. As previously reported by IAG, the concessionaires are contributing a combined MOP$120 million in 2023.
