Macau is expecting 20,000 people daily as tourists to the city during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holidays. The announcement was made over the weekend by a representative from the Macao Government Tourism Office.
The spokesperson said the easing by the Zhuhai authorities of Covid-19 test requirements for those wishing to cross from that mainland city to visit Macau, might help tourism numbers during the holiday period.
With effect from last Saturday (January 29), people intending to cross the border from Zhuhai need to hold a nucleic acid test certificate issued within 48 hours, proving they are ‘negative’ for Covid-19 infection. The previous requirement was for a test certificate issued within 24 hours.
China’s State Council has designated the holiday period this time as January 31, a Monday – the eve of Chinese New Year – to February 6, a Sunday.
According to checks conducted by GGRAsia last week, a number of Macau luxury hotels inside casino resorts still had, as of Thursday (January 27), rooms available for every night of the upcoming week-long Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period.
Visitor arrivals to Macau during the entire Chinese New Year period in 2021 totalled 90,615, according to official data. The average number of visitor arrivals to the city during the week-long break stood at 12,945 a day.
The Chinese New Year period is traditionally a peak time for the city’s tourism trade. In 2019 – the most recent pre-pandemic trading period – Macau had seen over 1.2 million visitor arrivals for that seven-day holiday period, according to tourism bureau data.
