Tourists upset with crowded spaces during CNY

Tourists heading to Ruins of St Paul

Although the territory’s Chinese New Year arrivals were up for this Golden Week, several tourists were discontented with their experience, citing overcrowding in tourist spots and some stores.

Yesterday, the Times visited several local stores and learnt that despite the increase in sales, numerous tourists have complained about store closures and overcrowding.

“I came here for one restaurant and I found out that the restaurant is closed,” said Chen Qiao Lin, a tourist from Zhuhai.

“There are too many people, it’s too crowded. Most of the things that I want to buy are out of stock.”

Xandy Ng, who only arrived in Macau yesterday from Hong Kong, echoed the same sentiments and said that the city is congested, which makes it difficult for tourists to take some photos.

When asked about their itinerary for their three-day stay in Macau, Ng said, “We plan to eat a lot and maybe we’ll go to casinos.”

Although some tourists are pleased with their visit to the region, especially with the local food, some do not intend to visit again during the next Chinese New Year.

A German tourist, who currently lives in China and adores Macau cuisine, said that he currently has no plans to return.

“I really like it here. If there were less people, it would be much nicer. We had authentic Macau food,” said the tourist. “We will see [if we’ll come back], I don’t know.”

Daniela Militaru and Salim Elmazor

Meanwhile, several foreign tourists in the region opted for fine dining in the region to avoid the crowd in downtown.

Portuguese tourists Manuela and Cristina Silva, who are in Macau for a day, said that they spent the first few days of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

The mother and daughter pair opted to lunch at a local hotel, saying, “It was nice, it was much calmer at the Mandarin Oriental than out here.”

Some visitors from London were also quite saddened that a restaurant they planned to go to was closed.

“We were just looking for a seafood restaurant. We hope we’re going to find another one, we’ll see,” said Salim Elmazor.

“The weather is great, it’s nice. We like it [though] it’s a bit crowded. It took us a long time to board the ferry. Maybe [we’ll] avoid CNY in the future just because it’s too crowded,” said another tourist, Daniela Militaru.

Tourist Elizabeth Yeung, who lives in Guangzhou, commended the region’s ambiance, noting that it has a more traditional atmosphere than mainland.

“It’s nice, it has a more traditional feeling than [in] mainland since the buildings and lanterns are more traditional,” said Yeung, who was only in the city for a day.

“We’ve had the pork chop bun. We still need to get our egg tarts,” she added.

During the Chinese New Year, the immigration authorities recorded 457,296 entrances, which represents a 4.8 percent increase year on year. Julie Zhu, Lynzy Valles