Hotel occupancy drop over ‘Ching Ming’ and current time not concerning

The significant drop recorded in the hotel occupancy rate, particularly in the higher-end units, over the Ching Ming Festival weekend and this week is not concerning, and it is considered normal, Randy Chung, vice president of the Macau Hoteliers & Innkeepers Association, said in an interview with the Times.

To the Times, Chung noted that a lower occupancy rate and hotel rooms in March and until April are standard as this season has been historically considered the lowest season for Macau tourism.

“March is traditionally a low season, especially at the end of March or around the Ching Ming Festival, which fell this year at the beginning of April. That week [around Ching Ming Festival] is usually quieter,” Chung said, adding, “It’s true, there are some hotels [recording occupancy rates around 60 to 70%], but, in general, the hotel occupancy is actually in between 80 to 90%. This is a normal figure based on my experience and what we have seen over the years.”

He remarked that March’s occupancy rate was not that low, averaging “almost 90% for the whole month,” a figure that he also said was similar to the one recorded last year around the same time.

He added that besides being considered common in Macau, the drop in occupancy rates around this time of the year is not exclusive to Macau; the same also happens in other places like Hong Kong and mainland China.

He explained that the industry is never too hopeful for the Ching Ming Festival as this is a very special and traditional holiday during which people dedicate their time to visiting the graves of their ancestors, hiking in the mountains, and holding religious activities and not a time for fun or sightseeing activities.

Chung also noted, particularly what concerns the hotels located in the Cotai District, that these hotels have a very particular occupancy rate, different from the ordinary hotels dedicated to tourists or business clients, since “some of their rooms are specially dedicated [and reserved] to their casino patrons, so their occupancy rate, on average, is a little bit different from other kinds of hotels and cannot be truly trusted as there is a lot of fluctuation in the figures due to reserved but not occupied rooms and some that the hotel management decides to release to the market,” advancing that these are all common practices from the sector.

The same official also remarked that a similar performance is expected in the Easter holidays as they are not considered national holidays.

For the Easter weekend, Chung forecasts that there will be a chance of receiving more visitors from the neighboring region of Hong Kong and some Southeast Asian markets that value this holiday more.

He noted that occupancy is expected to spike again during the Labor Day (May 1) “Golden Week.”

Renato Marques & Yuki Lei