As Macau is preparing for its first “normal” Chinese New Year holiday, the stakes are high for any signs of the recovery everyone hopes for in 2023.
The first signs are encouraging, with the daily average of visitors in the city going above the 50,000 mark after cross-border travel between Macau, Hong Kong, and the mainland returned to normal.
Yes, we know the spring festival previously reported a daily average of over 173,000 visitors, but we have to make do with what we’re given.
The expectations for the years of the rabbit are indeed high, following a horrendous year of the tiger.
In 2022 Macau received 5.7 million tourist arrivals, a 26 per cent year-on-year decline and the lowest in 20 years.
It also represented just 14.5 per cent of the 39.4 million visitor tally recorded in pre-pandemic 2019.
Hotels are booked, tickets bought, and the streets of the city will certainly witness a liveliness deeply absent in previous years.
However, what is really heart-warming is that for the first time, local residents will be able to freely reunite with relatives and loved ones during the festivities and return hassle-free (one hopes).
Whether you choose to spend time with family or in a faraway tropical paradise – after all, not everyone equates family time with quality time – normalcy has never been as beautiful.
Most of the city’s hotels are already fully booked, and not with visitors undergoing quarantine but for tourists eager to make up for time lost.
Estimates point to a casino gross gaming revenue in January of circa MOP8 billion (US$962.6 million), about a third of the same as in pre-pandemic times, not impressive, but an important first step to at least reaching the MOP100 billion mark by the end of the year.
Money will be spent, yam cha’s will be eaten, and millions of firecrackers will be blown to bits, after which it will be time to assess the level of the city’s recovery and where it stands.
Until then, enjoy your freedom. It will surely taste sweeter this Chinese New Year.
[MNA contributing editor]
