About 17pct of Macau resort eateries shut: report

Jan 07, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Nearly 17 percent of the food and beverage outlets at Macau’s casino resorts had their operations suspended as of early January, according to a Thursday report by the Chinese-language radio service of Macau’s public broadcaster TDM. It cited information from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).

As of January 4, there were 398 food and beverage outlets at the city’s casino resorts still operating, representing 83.26 percent of the aggregate number of such outlets at these properties, the report said.

During 2020, a total of 198 eateries at the city’s casino properties had applied to the local authorities to suspend their operations, according to the MGTO information cited by the report.

MGTO is the government unit responsible for licensing the city’s hotels, and the catering units within these properties.

The Macau government launched last year a so-called consumption subsidy scheme, designed to help local small businesses recover from the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic by putting more spending money in the pockets of local people. It was said to have had some benefit for the city’s casino resort food and beverage outlets, according to local commentators approached by GGRAsia.

The local authorities also introduced last year spending-stimulus initiatives for consumers that included discount offers aimed at mainland Chinese tourists, for hotel stays and flights via some e-commerce platforms. The special programme was aimed to revive the city’s tourism trade that has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This spending-stimulus programme would continue this year, mentioned MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes in comments to local media last month.

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