MGTO preparing to manage tourist flow during Golden Week

The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) will implement measures to manage visitor flows during Golden Week, which starts on Monday.

According to MGTO, it is encouraging visitors to use the “smart application for visitor flows” to assist in itinerary planning by showing the predicted density of visitor flows at various tourist attractions in Macau.

From tomorrow until October 6, the tourism bureau will also station personnel at 10 tourism spots to provide visitors with tourism information and guidance.

The bureau will present a special mapping show titled “Glorious Splendor in Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” at the Ruins of St. Paul’s on the nights of September 29 to October 1.

On October 1, the 30th Macao International Fireworks Display Contest will feature teams from France and China, while teams from Japan and Australia will compete on October 5.

A Macao Food Guide for the October 1 holiday will also be published, offering a list of restaurants and eateries open during the week-long National Holiday.

During Golden Week, the office will also carry out inspections at various tourist sites, ports of entry and districts, in addition to taking concerted action with police authorities to combat illegal accommodation.

Meanwhile, the Public Security Police Force’s “Real-Time Information Platform of Border Ports” is a website which allows visitors to check real-time border-crossing images at the Border Gate, Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, Taipa Ferry Terminal and Cotai Frontier Post.

The Zhuhai-Macau Cross Border Industrial Zone Border Checkpoint and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Frontier Post at Macau Port checkpoints will also be recorded.

MGTO’s online platform will publish provisional visitor arrival figures of every previous day between October 2 to October 8.

In order to safeguard visitor rights and ensure tourism quality, MGTO has sent letters to industry operators to raise awareness about hygiene, fire safety, guest capacity, opening hours and occupational guidelines for tour group operation, amongst other things.

According to a report issued by GGRAsia, 13 of Macau’s 27 major casino hotels are sold out for five nights or more during Golden Week, with most of these located in Cotai.

As previously reported, gaming analysts Sanford C. Bernstein and Morgan Stanley are not optimistic regarding hotel businesses during the upcoming holidays.

“Room comps [competitions] will be high during the period, but likely [to] go to an average lower-spend customer than in 2018. Consequently, higher-end play will likely remain tepid during Golden Week and during the whole of October,” analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein said.

MGTO is expecting a 15% year-on-year increase in the visitor numbers during the Chinese holiday. Last year, Macau welcomed over 890,000 visitors during Golden Week, registering a year-on-year rise of 7.2%. LV