Hotel arrangements for Hong Kong guests under discussion

Since the sudden developments in Hong Kong’s pandemic situation on Tuesday, with the reclassification of the recent two confirmed Delta cases as imported cases, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) told the Times yesterday that the authorities are in discussion with local hoteliers to formulate new arrangements for the accommodation of Hong Kong travelers after the border reopens.
According to a report published yesterday by HK01, a Hong Kong-based Chinese media outlet, vaccinated Hong Kong arrivals will be assigned a new health code color upon arrival — not one of the current green, yellow or red codes.
According to the report, holidaymakers from Hong Kong will be granted permission to move around inside their hotels after entering Macau, but they may only stay on hotel floors designated exclusively for them.
The report also claims that Hong Kong tourists will be banned from entering swimming pools and other water activities in the hotels.
The HK01 report also stated that the MGTO has already communicated with Macau’s hotel operators to inform them of these proposed measures.
Questioned by the Times about the accuracy of these statements, a spokesperson of the MGTO replied in an email: “MGTO is currently in internal communication and discussion with local hotels and guesthouses for feasible arrangements.”
“Given that the plan is in a stage of discussion, the MGTO is inquiring those accommodations to provide information, but has no information to announce to the public at this moment,” the MGTO’s spokesperson added.
In addition, the report also said that the Macau government has already liaised with the ferry company to discuss the feasibility of resuming services between the two cities soon. Some particulars are tabled for discussion, such as the need to set an initial quota for ferry passengers, the need for ferry staff to be fully vaccinated and whether they might be exempted from quarantine while crossing between the two cities, among other questions.
On June 29, the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP) announced that it will reclassify the case of a 27-year-old male working in Hong Kong airport, together with his 24-year-old female colleague, both bearing Delta strains, from “local case of unknown source” to “epidemiologically linked with imported cases.”
The cases were reclassified after it was found that the man “had brief encounters with the three imported cases at the Department of Health’s Temporary Specimen Collection Centre in the Hong Kong International Airport on June 11,” the CHP explained.
Hong Kong registered no local cases yesterday. Given the reclassification, Hong Kong technically recorded no locally-transmitted case for 23 consecutive days: five days short of the trigger for the Hong Kong-Macau travel bubble plan to be further cemented.
On Monday, Tai Wa Hou, coordinator of the Health Bureau’s Covid-19 vaccination operation, said that the intercity travel bubble may resume, even without the need for Hong Kong to register no local cases for 28 consecutive days.
The prerequisite for the re-opening of the travel bubble, he added, will be scientific evidence proving that Hong Kong’s recent confirmed cases are imported and there is no contagion risk in the community.
Officials of the two cities are actively discussing how to re-assess the “28 days” requirement, he confirmed.
The MGTO also reiterated to the Times that when the target of 28 consecutive days is reached, the implementation of the travel bubble measure between Hong Kong and Macau “will be carried out progressively and in several stages (with a limit of entries at each stage).”
“Additional measures” must be taken to ensure a firm containment of the spread of the pandemic and the safety of the population in Macau in the Hong Kong-Macau travel scheme, the MGTO added.

Integrated resorts to benefit most under the new plan: JP Morgan

JP Morgan released a memo yesterday sharing its views on the new proposed restrictions applied exclusively to visitors from Hong Kong.
The brokerage consulted with some Macau hoteliers who suggested that Hong Kong travelers after entering Macau are very likely to be forbidden to leave the hotel premises for some time.
The brokerage also stated that these proposed measures “would benefit large-scale integrated resorts more than the others, as guests are likely to be asked to stay within the property.”