Preliminary figures show that 261,069 visitors arrived in Macao during the Spring Festival Golden Week, 78.3 percent fewer than the 1.2 million arrivals in the equivalent period last year.
This year’s decline was linked to the novel coronavirus outbreak, first reported in Wuhan in Hubei Province in December. The outbreak spread across the country and further afield, causing thousands of Mainland Chinese to cancel trips during the Spring Festival period, including trips to Macao. The trend was exacerbated by the measures to reduce travel taken by the Central Government or the local authorities in Macao with the aim of containing the outbreak.
In Mainland China, the largest source of visitors to Macao, the Spring Festival holiday ran from 24 to 30 January. In response to the outbreak of novel coronavirus infections, the holiday was extended to 2 February, but the Macao statistics count only arrivals in the first seven days of the festival. The figures exclude arrivals by non-resident workers and students.
Among the visitors to Macao that arrived in the first seven days of the festival this year, 90.1 percent or about 235,000 came from Greater China, 79.4 percent fewer than during the Spring Festival Golden Week last year. Mainland Chinese made up 57.2 percent or 149,000 of all visitors, 83.3 percent fewer than last year.
About 76,000 visitors came from Hong Kong, 66.7 percent fewer than last year. About 10,000 were from the Taiwan region, 53.5 percent fewer. The number of visitors that arrived from abroad fell by 56.2 percent to about 26,000.
Hotel industry statistics indicate that the average rate of occupancy of hotels and guesthouses in Macao during the Spring Festival Golden Week fell to 52.9 percent this year, down by 43.8 percentage points.
The average occupancy rate at five-star hotels fell to 55.3 percent, a decrease of 42.3 percentage points. The average occupancy rate at four-star hotels fell to 48.3 percent, down by 46.7 percentage points; at three-star hotels to 51.7 percent, down by 46.9 percentage points; at two-star hotels to 47.6 percent, dropped by 39.6 percentage points; and at guesthouses to 40.6 percent, a decrease of 40.5 percentage points.
The average room rate for a night in a hotel or guesthouse in Macao during the Spring Festival Golden Week was MOP2,029.70 this year, 5.8 percent more than last year.
In five-star hotels, the average room rate rose by 9.4 percent to MOP2,356.00. In four-star hotels it fell by 5.3 percent to MOP1,514.20; in three-star hotels it fell by 2.6 percent to MOP1,472.20; in two-star hotels it fell by 22.2 percent to MOP999.20; and in guesthouses it fell by 10 percent to MOP792.40.