Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Ricky Hoi Io Meng told the media yesterday on the sidelines of a press conference at Grand Lisboa Palace (GLP) about the upcoming 12th Macau Shopping Festival that the recent average daily number of visitor arrivals was “stable”, at around 16,000 visitor arrivals a day, adding he hoped that a raft of activities, such as the current 69th Grand Prix and the upcoming Macau Food Festival, could boost the number of visitor arrivals to about 20 000 daily.
The food-fest starts tomorrow.
Hoi pointed out that the four-day Grand Prix, which started yesterday, was “attractive,” also due to the increased number of overseas drivers and riders competing in this year’s races.
Hoi said he believed that the current travel measure of holding a nucleic acid test ( NAT) result valid for 24 hours between Macau and Zhuhai would have “just a little impact” on those keen to watch the motorraces.
When reporters asked about the increase in the number of tourists from elsewhere in the mainland, Hoi said that according to Air Macau, the number of its flights and load factor this month have increased, adding that the bureau will strive to launch more online and offline promotion campaigns in various mainland provinces other than Guangdong.
According to Hoi, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Beijing has completed the procedures related to the resumption of tour groups to Macau in four provinces and one municipality and is now in the assessment stage of its COVID-19 joint prevention and control mechanism. Hoi said he believed that the result will be released after integrating the evaluations by the mainland’s COVID-19 pandemic prevention entities. Hoi pointed out that the timetable for the restart of tour groups from the mainland to Macau has not yet been decided, adding he believed that the central government will continue supporting the development of Macau’s tourism industry and complete the procedures as soon as possible.
The initially four provinces and one municipality that will resume tour group visits to Macau comprise the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as the municipality of Shanghai.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Ricky Hoi Io Meng speaks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s press conference at SJM’s Grand Lisboa Palace (GLP) resort in Cotai about the upcoming 12th Macau Shopping Festival. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
