Gov’t collaborates with gaming operators to promote in Beijing

The government is set to launch a tourism promotion campaign during the second week of September on Beijing’s busiest commercial street. The campaign will involve the city’s six gaming concessionaires.
According to a report by Radio Macau, the promotional campaign, which is being coordinated by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), will take place on Wangfujing Street in Beijing.
This is the first tourism campaign being run abroad since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the first half of 2020, visitor arrivals declined by 84% year-on-year to 3.26 million due to travel and border restrictions.
Last month, China had set a date for the resumption of tourist visas for visitors travelling to the Macau SAR. From September 23, any mainland resident will be able to apply for an Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visa to visit Macau for tourism purposes.
The timing positions Macau for a tourism recovery bounce during China’s Golden Week in early October, a normally popular time in the Macau gaming calendar.
As the promotion of gambling is prohibited on the mainland, gaming operators are likely to publicize their hotel and restaurant promotions during the upcoming campaign.
Recently, the government launched a scheme for tourists from mainland China, aiming to boost the economy and protect local jobs.
The scheme was initiated by the Macau SAR government with support from e-commerce giants Tencent and Alibaba, as well as Air Macau. It aims to attract tourism to the city through promotions on air tickets and hotels, and rebates on shopping and dining to encourage tourists to increase their spending and length of stay.
After the IVS was reinstated for Guangdong residents on August 12, preliminary data shows that the city recorded a 25% rise in visitor arrivals compared to the weekend prior.
Previously, the Public Security Police Force had said that it did not expect significant changes in border traffic. However, they are now predicting a gradual upward trend in the number of arrivals in the coming weeks.