Unemployment, Covid-19, and tourism – a difficult knot to untie

The relationship between the local unemployment rate, Covid-19 prevention and control measures, and the entry of visitors to Macau is close, with the trilogy becoming a knot that is hard to untangle.

While the Chief Executive said all visitors are welcome to Macau, he also insisted Macau must maintain the dynamic zero-covid policy [from the central government].

In the 2023 Policy Address, he said he hoped that, with the experience gathered on the recent entry for foreign racers for the Macau Grand Prix event, Macau can receive more visitors from now on, namely those related to the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector.

Hong Kong is “extremely important” to Macau and the border was never completely closed to the neighboring region, the CE said when asked by the Times about prospective policy changes on the entry to Macau by people coming from Hong Kong for 2023.

According to data disclosed by Ho, every day some 150 people arrive in Macau from Hong Kong. He said, most of these people use Macau not as a final destination but as a stop to being able to finally reach the mainland.

Continuing to address the topic, the CE noted local authorities might consider adjusting the quota for entry of people from Hong Kong but, to fully reopen the border without limitations “we can only do this when we reach a situation of 0+0,” that is, when quarantine measures are completely dropped.

Such a scenario does not seem to be on the CE’s horizon, who noted the neighboring region has recently reported some 5,000 to 6,000 new Covid-19 infections daily.

Nonetheless, he said, “We hope that as soon as possible we can smooth these measures [referring to the 5+3 quarantine rule],” although refused to say more on when a new adjustment on quarantine rules might occur.

Today, the CE will return to the AL for a Q&A session with the lawmakers on the LAG23 presented yesterday.