The government is hoping that more Asian countries will soon be in a situation that will allow Macau’s borders to be reopened to their citizens.
These countries need to have brought the Covid-19 pandemic under control first, but Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said he hopes some will reach this stage in the final quarter of this year.
Asked by the media on the sidelines of an event yesterday about the next steps in tourism normalization, the Chief Executive said, “we don’t have a standard to serve as a reference because with the [Covid-19] pandemic, it is very difficult to predict the changes it entails.
Tourism visa endorsements for Macau will resume across the mainland on September 23, just in time for the normally busy Golden Week period at the start of October. Some in the local government expect other steps toward normalcy during the last quarter of 2020.
“In the upcoming three months, we will allow citizens from other countries in Asia that have a low-risk [of contagion] to enter Macau but we can’t tell who they are at this point as there are many unpredictable factors,” said Ho.
Giving examples, Ho remarked that in one of Macau’s major markets for visitors, the neighboring region of Hong Kong, there are still no plans for reopening the borders.
“Hong Kong, for instance, is so close but we can’t open the doors to them as yet. It is a market of 7 million people and our second biggest [visitor] market but we cannot open the borders to them as they are not yet considered of low-risk,” the Chief Executive said.
“After September 23, the borders will be open to all residents of the mainland. We need to take advantage of this opportunity,” he added.
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