Hotel occupancy scores low for supposedly busy period

Macau welcomed over 156,000 visitors during the Golden Week this year, marking a year-on-year fall of 86.0% in average daily visitor arrivals during the national holiday.
Some 145,000 visitors came from the mainland which was the major source of visitors, constituting 93.1% of total visitor arrivals with an 84.0% decline in average daily visitor arrivals from last year. According to a statement issued by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), from the first week after travel permit issuance was resumed up to Golden Week, the average daily visitor arrivals rose from around 6,000 to nearly 20,000.
Despite measures against the Covid-19 pandemic and the decline in travel plans among other factors, visitor arrivals from the mainland have slowly risen in recent months as the pandemic situation became generally stable in both regions.
Since the SAR has opened its borders to mainland China, no Covid-19 cases have been recorded.
Visitors are required to show a negative Covid-19 test prior to entering the city, as well as complete the health code conversion between Guangdong and Macau.
Macau has been waiting for the Golden Week to see its economy recover after several months of economic downturn due to the strict travel restrictions enforced by the SAR and mainland China.
The absence of mainland China’s visitors and international tourists has caused a number of SMEs to shut down, which also led to thousands of workers being laid off.
Meanwhile, figures provided by industry operators revealed that local hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) saw an average occupancy rate of 43.6% during Golden Week, a year-on-year decrease of 50.4 percentage points. To date, the supply of local hotels and guest houses has reached a total of 42,441 rooms.
The MGTO had previously expressed that it was keen on seeing at least 50% hotel occupancy as a good sign of recovery.
The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) was about 1,290.5 patacas during Golden Week, a year-on-year decline of 30.0%.
The national holiday is considered a peak season when hotel rooms are more expensive than normal days.
The average room rates of five star and four star hotels were around 1,634 patacas and 605.2 patacas respectively, down 26.9% and 49.4% respectively.
MGTO also carried out a joint initiative against illegal accommodation with the Public Security Police Force, but did not discover any apartment operating illegally during the operation.