Briefs | Drone activities banned during helicopter sightseeing tours

The Macau government will ban unmanned aircraft activities in certain zones in Macau during the helicopter sightseeing tours to ensure that the tours will take place in a safe environment. The helicopter sightseeing tours, one of the “Macao Ready Go” economic revival measures, will be conducted at a relatively low height alongside Taipa and Coloane, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. Considering that it is necessary to establish the clearance for the sightseeing route and ensure the safety of the passengers, the Civil Aviation Authority will ban the unmanned aircraft activities in certain zones between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays to Sundays from July 31 to August 30. Anyone who does not comply with the prohibition may face a fine of up to 20,000 patacas by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Hotel occupancy rate drops to 11.8% in June

The average occupancy rate of guest rooms dropped by 77.6 percentage points to 11.8% in June, according to the latest data provided by the Statistics and Census Service. The rapid decline reflects the absence of tourists in Macau since February when the effects of the Covid-19 virus began to be felt in the city. The occupancy rate of 5-star hotels was just 5.8% in June, while the rates of 2-star hotels and guesthouses were 28.9% and 35.0% respectively. Last year, the average occupancy rate of a five-star hotel in Macau was about 90%. In the first half of 2020, the average occupancy rate of guest rooms was 27.2%, a drop of 63.9 percentage points year-on-year. The number of guests of hotels and guesthouses declined by 73.5% to 1.83 million, whereas their average length of stay went up by 0.2 nights to 1.7 nights.

Museums to resume guided tour services next month

Several museums under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will resume public guided tours and group guided tours starting this Saturday (August 1). These museum spaces include the Macao Museum, the Macao Museum of Art, the Taipa Houses, the Museum of Taipa and Coloane History, and the Xian Xinghai Memorial Museum, according to the IC, while the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao will provide group guided tours only. In order to cooperate with the epidemic prevention measures, the number of participants in the guided tours will be limited. The number of participants in the public guided tours will be limited to 10, while the group guided tours will be limited to 15 or 20 participants.