Ferry operators mull multi-stop trips to boost Macau routes

Ferry operators serving Macau routes are considering multi-stop trips to rebuild passenger volumes toward pre-pandemic levels, Susana Wong, director of the Marine and Water Bureau said.

According to Wong, the daily volume of passengers carried by ferries serving Macau currently ranges from 10,000 to 17,000, with the potential to reach up to 30,000 during holiday periods. However, the non-holiday daily volume on Hong Kong-Macau routes is only 60-70% of 2019 levels.

The official acknowledged that the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in 2018 has also influenced market conditions for the ferry trade. Additionally, the recent commissioning of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a cross-sea bridge, has impacted the volume on the Shenzhen-Macau ferry routes.

To address declining passenger numbers, ferry operators have been exploring various solutions. One option under consideration is a multi-stop ferry service, where a ferry departing from Hong Kong might stop at the Hong Kong International Airport or other locations before reaching Macau. The commercial aspects, such as the cost-effectiveness of the ferry operation and how to attract more people, are within the ferry operators’ considerations. The government will work with the operators to meet their needs.

In the first eight months of the year, Macau received 2.8 million visitor arrivals by sea, representing a 61.7% recovery from the same period in 2019. The Hong Kong market, the biggest contributor to the overall maritime-traveler cohort to Macau, accounted for nearly 1.19 million journeys, which was down 6% year-on-year and only 51.2% of the comparable period in 2019. The number of Hong Kong-originating visitors arriving at the Macau checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, however, reached just above 2.72 million, which was about 61% higher than the same period in 2019. Victoria Chan