The Coronavirus ultimately painted a bleak picture for Macau’s gaming and tourism operators during the Golden Week Chinese New Year holiday, with visitation over the full seven-day period down by a massive 78.3% year-on-year.
According to final figures published by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) on Friday, just 261,069 people crossed into Macau in Golden Week, down from 1,213,487 in 2019. The decline in visitor numbers became increasingly apparent as the week progressed too, with a high of 57,838 arrivals on Day 2 of Golden Week falling to a low of just 17,865 by Day 7.
Macau authorities announced a series of measures during the week aimed at limiting the spread of the virus from China, with anyone who has visited Hubei in the past 14 days now banned from entering, more than 60 daily flights to and from the mainland cancelled and multiple bus and ferry services restricted.
As a result, arrivals from mainland China during Chinese New Year plummeted by 83.3% to 149,244 compared with 899,290 in the same period last year. While more than 30,000 people arrived from the mainland on each of the first two days of Golden Week, Day 7 saw that number fall to just 9,664.
