Tourism and general travel to Macau, along with some non-gaming services at the city’s casino resorts – were disrupted by the passage of a super typhoon with the moniker “Yagi”.
General disruption began for air and sea transport a number of hours before a Typhoon Signal No.8 was hoisted at 10pm on Thursday, with air services in particular still facing issues even after the alert was lowered to Signal No.3 at 2pm on Friday.
According to GGRAsia’s checks, all the casino resorts in the city’s Cotai district and on Macau peninsula announced some form of suspension to elements of their non-gaming services for periods after the Signal No.8 went up, with the suspensions ending after the Signal No. 3 was hoisted on Friday. Paused services had included some restaurants, shops and outdoor facilities.
One outlet at the Inner Harbour district – an area prone to flooding – of the Mocha Clubs Macau chain of slot clubs run by Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, was closed for the same period, commonly a precaution taken at that venue during typhoons. The information had been confirmed by Macau’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Hong Kong – Macau’s second-largest source of tourists – had raised Signal No. 8 as early as 6.20pm on Thursday, effectively severing for the period of the storm, the transport between the two places.
Due to the typhoon, Macau International Airport saw an aggregate of 41 flights – inbound and outbound – cancelled on Thursday, and another 156 flights cancelled on Friday, according to information from the airport operator available as of Friday afternoon. The cancelled services were scheduled flights that had been due to link to destinations in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia.
Ferry services between Macau and Shenzhen – a mainland China city adjacent to Hong Kong – were suspended throughout Thursday and were due to be suspended all day on Friday, according to an announcement from Macau’s Marine and Water Bureau.
Ferries between Macau and the Sheung Wan ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island, were suspended from Thursday afternoon, and subsequently resumed on Friday afternoon once Signal No. 3 came into force in both cities.
A cross-border road link between Macau and Hong Kong – the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (passenger hall pictured in a file photo) – also saw disruption of its operation amid Typhoon Yagi. The bridge was closed from 9pm on Thursday, and reopened at 2pm on Friday.
Macau’s prevailing civil protection framework allows an incumbent chief executive of the city to order the ad-hoc closure of casinos in case of an emergency or disaster. That did not happen in this instance.
The system was brought in following Typhoon Hato, which struck the city in August 2017 with wind speeds of 200 kilometres per hour (124 mph), leading to 10 deaths in the city and widespread damage to infrastructure that disrupted the city’s tourism industry for more than a week afterwards.
