Economy | ILO study shows that MSAR among cities most hit by pandemic

The Macau SAR was among the cities in the Asia Pacific that were hardest hit economically by the pandemic outbreak, according to a study conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO).
As not a single city was spared by the economic crisis triggered by Covid-19, the hardest hit regions are those that are heavily reliant on tourism.
According to the data, Macau and the Maldives, which are heavily dependent on tourism, have had the largest downward revisions of economic growth, with their economies expected to shrink by 52% and 19% respectively in 2020.
The ILO analyzed a total of 30 countries and cities in the study.
Macau also has the largest drop in number of tourists compared to 2019, along with Hong Kong.
The city’s tourism board is expecting a decline of over 90% in tourist arrivals for the whole of 2020. Official data shows that the region has only welcomed 4.60 million visitors between January and October this year. The majority of visitors arrived in January, before Macau tightened entry restrictions. The figure represents a decline of 86% compared to the same period last year.
“While some governments in the region have made efforts to promote domestic tourism, international tourism has collapsed due to Covid-19. This is the result of travel restrictions and strict quarantine rules imposed by governments as well as commercial flight bans. In economies with available data, there have almost been no international tourist arrivals except in Indonesia and the Republic of Korea,” the report stated.
Meanwhile, the economic uncertainty also caused foreign direct investment to collapse as Macau saw its second biggest decline, just behind Sri Lanka, with a drop of more than 80%.
Foreign direct investment has also dried up.
Of the 25 economies for which data are available, only six showed an increase in greenfield investment during the same period. Macau, the Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka reflected the largest decline in greenfield investment, ranging from 84% to 89%.