GGRAsia – Macau Easter hotel occupancy averaged 86pct: MGTO

Macau Easter hotel occupancy averaged 86pct: MGTO

Apr 14, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The average occupancy rate for Macau’s available hotel rooms during Easter season was 86 percent – up 52 percentage points on Easter 2022, when Covid-19 travel restrictions applied – confirmed Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) in a statement to GGRAsia, citing industry data.

This year’s Easter season from April 7 – a Friday – to April 10 – a Monday – saw peak hotel occupancy on April 8, at 89 percent.

The average occupancy rate was 89.0 percent for Macau’s available five-star hotel rooms in a four-day Easter period as defined by MGTO. Most of the city’s major gaming venues are housed inside resort complexes featuring five-star hotels.

Easter is not a holiday season in mainland China. Good Friday and Easter Saturday are public holidays in Macau and in neighbouring Hong Kong. Easter Monday is also observed in the latter city.

The information provided by MGTO did not mention the number of hotel rooms operational within the city’s inventory during this year’s Easter period.

Prior to the festivities, one senior gaming and lodging executive in the Macau market told GGRAsia that labour constraints still weighed on the city’s hotel-room inventory. “Meaningful” improvement might not be seen until June at the earliest, he stated.

Andy Wu Keng Kuong, president of Macau Travel Industry Council, told GGRAsia on Friday his trade body estimated – via hotel sector sources – around 10 percent of the city’s circa 40,000 hotel rooms were not available for use during the Easter period.

That was due to “a number of factors”, including “human resources issues, or that some hotel operators were still in the middle of upgrading their [facilities],” Mr Wu explained.

The trade boss added he was hopeful that “by the Labour Day breaks” in early May, “there will be more hotel room inventory in the city available for guests, as many hotel operators have been continuously hiring staff”.

China’s State Council has designated this year’s festivities encompassing Labour Day as a five-day break running from April 29, a Saturday, to May 3, a Wednesday. The Labour Day festivities are traditionally a peak period for Macau’s hospitality sector and the city’s casino industry.

(Updated 11.15 am, April 17)