Occupancy rate to reach 40-60% during CNY, hotel industry forecasts

Macau’s hotel industry is anticipating to reach an occupancy rate of around 40% to 60% during the forthcoming Spring Festival — more or less the same as last Christmas, Macau Hotel Association’s President Wong Suk Yan told TDM earlier.
Despite travel advisories issued by China’s municipal governments urging their residents to avoid unnecessary travel during the Lunar New Year, Wong has been cautiously optimistic about hotel performance over the festive period.
Domestic travelers and holidaymakers from Guangdong province are expected to be the two main source markets for the hotel sector during the holiday, said Wong. She is hoping for an improvement in the occupancy rate around this period.
Chairman of the Macau Tourist Guide Association, Wu Wai Fong, told the Times that she believes travellers from the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to be the least affected by the official travel entreaty and that they will still travel to Macau during the festival this month.
“The region’s close proximity to Macau offers extra reassurance for them to visit the city. Even if there is a sudden lockdown, the GBA tourists can return to their hometowns in Guangdong province from Macau in a short period,” Wu explained.
Given the worsening Covid-19 situation in China, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) is expecting lower tourist arrivals in Macau during the Spring Festival compared to the Christmas period last year, MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said in a media briefing last week.
Even in the face of unfavorable conditions, Fernandes is still projecting the occupancy rate to stand at around 70% to 80%. She expects it to be buoyed by attractive packages launched by local hotels.
According to the MGTO’s data, on average Macau registered a daily visitor numbers of 24,503 and an overall occupancy rate of 69.4% in the Christmas period from December 23 to 27.

Reservations for family reunion dinners almost fully booked

Macau’s food and beverage (F&B) industry has confirmed that restaurant reservations for family reunion dinners on the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY) have almost reached full capacity, Fong Kin Fu, vice-chairman of the United Association of Food and Beverage Merchants of Macau, told TDM earlier.
Some local restaurateurs decided to operate their businesses during CNY to align with the travel advisory issued by the government which urges residents and foreign workers to avoid unnecessary travel during the holiday.
The F&B industry has also noticed that most reservations, involving CNY banquets organized by companies, were already canceled.