An attendant checks the temperature of a tourist at the entrance to the Galaxy Macau casino and hotel, developed by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., in Macau, China, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. The World Health Organization opted not to declare a public health crisis of international concern, saying at a briefing in Geneva on Jan. 23 that its continuing to monitor the virus. The decision means the agency still considers the virus to be a local emergency. Photographer: Billy H.C. Kwok/Bloomberg
Following the updated disease control measures, estimates on the daily tourist arrival counts made by Andy Wu Keng Kuong, Chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, may fall below 10,000 in June.
Both the Guangdong and Macau governments have updated their respective epidemic control measures in light of the recent increase in Covid-19 cases in the neighboring province. The validity period for Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negative test results used for traveling between Guangdong and Macau have been shortened to two days.
Guangzhou, the capital city of the province, has seen single digit increases in the number of new Covid-19 cases, while Foshan, a city with close interactions with the provincial capital, has seen about a dozen new cases in the previous days.
Following the discovery of new cases in the neighboring province, the daily tourist arrival count has fallen from 30,000 to 10,000. The fact that there have been no long holidays recently in mainland China should also be taken into account.
Wu stressed that the new measure will definitely have an impact on the revival of the city’s tourism industry, although he admitted that the restriction is inevitable. He disclosed that after the announcement of new cases in Guangdong, the tourist arrival numbers were floating around the 10,000 per day mark.
He expects that the new restriction will discourage tourists from visiting Macau for leisure. As such, he foresees the tourist arrivals may fall further to under 10,000 per day.
Despite the severe impact on the local tourism industry, Wu said that counter-disease measures must be prompt, tough and accurate. The only hope he has is that the situation stabilizes as soon as possible, so that Guangdong-Macau interactions can improve.
He is still optimistic regarding tourist arrival numbers in the second half of the year because he is confident in the mainland’s effort to contain the virus. AL
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