Macau International Airport only currently offers a scheduled air service to one of the 10 Chinese mainland cities recently added to China’s exit visa system for independent travellers to go to Macau or Hong Kong, known as the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS).
That is according to GGRAsia’s review of Macau International Airport’s timetable, which shows a service to Qingdao, in the country’s eastern Shandong province. It is run by Macau’s legacy carrier Air Macau, which offers four round trip flights per week.
But Zhuhai Airport (pictured), in the mainland’s Guangdong province city Zhuhai, next door to Macau, does serve many of the new IVS cities by domestic air link, while Hong Kong International Airport serves others, show GGRAsia’s checks. Zhuhai Airport is also now linked to a suburban rail network that can deliver Chinese tourists from that air hub to Macau’s doorstep.
Qingdao and Xi’an were added to the IVS list with effect from March 6. Eight other cities – in distant Chinese provinces or regions – were added with effect from May 27.
The eight new outer cities added to IVS are: Taiyuan in Shanxi province; Hohhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; Harbin in Heilongjiang province; Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region; Lanzhou in Gansu province; Xining in Qinghai province; Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The Venetian Macao – a flagship casino resort of Sands China Ltd in Cotai – recently began offering a direct bus service to Zhuhai Airport, as well as the processing of pre-flight passenger registration – though not check-through luggage services – for some flights.
In March, the Venetian Macao started offering a direct bus service from that property to Hong Kong International Airport, as well as pre-flight passenger registration service for selected airlines, again without a check-through luggage service.
Air travel is the most preferred way to travel to Macau, brokerage CLSA Ltd concluded in its latest China Reality Research. That was a survey conducted on 800 Chinese nationals that had “past experience with Macau gaming”.
The survey of gambling customers to Macau – recently published by brokerage CLSA Ltd – indicated 45 percent of respondents preferred to use direct flights as a means of getting to Macau. Another 29 percent said they planned to travel inbound via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. A further 10 percent said they would use China’s high-speed rail network to get to Macau via Guangdong.
