City welcomes six group tours after three-year visa hiatus
The long-awaited resumption of mainland tour groups has commenced, with the city welcoming a total of 135 tourists yesterday, divided into six tour groups.
Three groups arrived from Shanghai, two from Guangdong Province and one from Liaoning Province.
The first Macau tour group of 37 people set out for Hengqin port on the same day.
As of Feb. 5, at least 15 tours have been arranged with about 400 tourists traveling from across the border.
The resumption of electronic visas for mainland travelers to Macau commenced November 1, a move that has long been awaited by the tourism sector since electronic visas were halted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The issuance of group package tours to Macau and eVisas under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) is shaping up to be a massive boost for the SAR’s gaming and tourism operators, which have been negatively affected by the pandemic that began in early 2020.
“I like Macau very much but haven’t been here since the epidemic,” said a Zhuhai resident surnamed Fan, who traveled with the group yesterday. “With subsidies from the Macau SAR government, my tour is a lot cheaper,” the tourist told Xinhua.
The resumption of group tours is expected to further elevate Macau’s tourism industry, a major propellant for its economy.
“Tour operators in Macau have been making preparations to embrace a full recovery,” said Zhang Jianzhong, chairman of China Travel Service (Macao) Ltd.
Data from online travel agency Trip.com Group showed that as of Saturday, bookings for Hong Kong and Macau trips this week by mainland residents were up 228% year on year.
“Normal travel will accelerate the recovery of the catering, shopping and entertainment sectors in Hong Kong and Macau, benefit tourism enterprises and businesses in the two regions, and strengthen the exchanges between Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland,” said Zeng Guojun, professor of the school of tourism, Sun Yat-sen University.
Meanwhile, Cheng Wai Tong, deputy director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said yesterday on the sidelines of the welcoming ceremony of the group tours’ arrival that that the subsidy plan for the Hong Kong, Taiwan and international groups is under consideration and will soon be rolled out.
For international groups, each group member will be subsidized by MOP350 for one night, and MOP500 for two nights or more.
Last week, the MGTO revealed that the series of campaigns by the local tourism office dedicated to attracting visitors from international markets will launch in Thailand.
However, the funding plan is still in the approval stage.
Currently, the city is facing a shortage in staff where many workers, particularly those in the integrated resorts, have been working overtime to accommodate the influx of tourists – something the city’s sectors have not been prepared for given the Covid restrictions and the uncertainty of full border reopening.
The struggle is expected to continue as many firms are still on the process of reacquiring bluecard quotas.
However, the government said that it had already met with representatives from different sectors and associations last week to discuss how to increase workers in various sectors by enabling the hiring of non-resident workers.
