GGRAsia – Many Macau hotels booked to capacity CNY: tourism boss

Many Macau hotels booked to capacity CNY: tourism boss

Jan 19, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Many of Macau’s hotels are “fully booked” in terms of available capacity, for most days of the upcoming Chinese New Year period, said Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes (pictured in a file photo), in remarks to the media on Thursday on the sidelines of a public event.

There was no mention of specific numbers in terms of hotel room percentages, in the comments reported by local news outlets.

She said the tourism bureau understood from communication with several resort operators, that the number of hotel rooms they can supply to the market had returned to “pre-Covid-19 level”, i.e., how things were in 2019. Her reported remarks did not include specifics.

China’s State Council has designated the holiday period for mainland residents as January 21, a Saturday, to January 27, a Friday, inclusive. The festive break in Hong Kong – another important source market for Macau’s tourists – is designated as running from January 23 to January 25.

As of mid-January, there was a total of 142 hotels and inns licensed in the Macau market, providing an aggregate of 46,506 rooms. Of the latter tally, about 44 percent – or just above 20,500 rooms – were in 27 licensed five-star hotels, many of those inside casino resorts, according to MGTO data.

The tourism bureau estimates Macau will receive on average daily, 47,000 visitors for the Chinese New Year period. The same festive period in 2019 – falling in early February that year – had seen a daily average of over 173,000.

Most hotels in Macau casino resorts are reporting they are full, with rates for any remaining rooms already at a premium relative even to a week ago, several gaming sector investment analysts have highlighted in notes released earlier this week.

The local hotel trade has indicated to GGRAsia that in likelihood not all the room stock in the city will be open for the holiday. Luís Herédia, president of the Macau Hotel Association, recently told GGRAsia that labour shortages – following shrinkage in workforce during the three years of Covid-19 restrictions – could be a constraint for some hoteliers.