Destinations Known | Hong Kong border reopening with mainland China could make Macau one of the biggest winners
- Hongkongers love to gamble and an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of Macau’s gaming revenue came from or via Hong Kong pre-pandemic
- If the bridge and ferries between Hong Kong and Macau are reopened, mainland tourists could also take advantage of the once popular ‘twofer’ trip.
With the news that Hong Kong’s border with mainland China will soon begin to reopen comes hope that the city might finally be released from its coronavirus-induced isolation. The resumption of broader overseas travel is bound to follow, surely? Surely?
Admittedly, Macau has not been as barricaded as Hong Kong, and mainland Chinese travellers have been trickling into the casino hub since July last year, providing an appreciated, if somewhat depleted, source of income for the tourism-dependent city. According to a 2020 report from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism usually accounts for 48 per cent of Macau’s gross domestic product.
Arrivals were down in 2020, of course, when Macau saw 5.9 million visitors, a decline of 85 per cent year on year, but that is still better than Hong Kong’s 93.6 per cent drop to 3.57 million. Numbers in 2021 remain depressed compared with pre-pandemic norms, when the “Asian Vegas” welcomed an average 3 million per month, but tourists (many of whom are gamblers) are making a comeback.
On October 29, 30,512 visitors entered Macau, figures that Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, told reporters she hoped the city could replicate in November and December, when it hosts the Macau Grand Prix, a food festival and the Macao Light Festival, featuring made-for-social-media illuminated installations.
