Attending a regular phone-in programme, “Ou Mun Gwong Cheuhng”, hosted by public broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio station, Macau Tourist Guides Union Chairman Lei Man Hou said yesterday that due to Macau’s high room rates the number of tour groups during the mainland’s recent May Day “Golden Week”, which ran from April 29 to May 8, was 70 percent down from before the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect Macau in early 2020.
He added: “The number of tour packages was even lower than in March and April”, causing an oversupply of local tourist guides.
Pressure on Macau’s tourism-carrying capacity has “gradually” been growing in “such a small place with a large population”, Lei said, who raised the example of the lack of parking spaces for tourist coaches near scenic spots. This, he said, showed that the city is once again facing huge pressure in terms of facilities when receiving tour groups.
According to Lei, due to the fact that many restaurants that used to cater to tour groups didn’t reopen after the pandemic, tourist guides have arranged for their tour groups to have their meals in restaurants in staggered sittings, while also urging the eateries to control their number of patrons, so as to avoid the quandery in which tour groups block restaurants’ entrances, leading to many complaints by local residents. Lei stressed, however, that the predicament has improved.
Yesterday’s phone-in programme was also attended by The Federal General Commercial Association of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises President Fong Kin Fu and Macau Leisure Tourism Services Innovation Association President Lu Lianjin.
As a tourist destination, Macau needs tourists to support the development of multiple industries, Fong said, urging locals to move around the city during off-peak hours, avoid tourist spots, and splash out in local neighbourhoods as much as possible, during mainland public holidays in particular.
The tourist pattern has changed since the pandemic, Fong pointed out, adding that there was no shortage of tourists in local neighbourhoods and, therefore, local SMEs should try their best to attract customers to their shops, while, at the same time, the government should also launch activities to revitalise local neighbourhoods’ economies.
According to Fong, the revenue of the small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in local neighbourhoods dropped by 50 percent over the two weekends during the mainland’s May Day “Golden Week” holiday.
There were only 40,000 hotel guestrooms available in Macau during the “Golden Week”, with an average of 100,000 tourists arriving daily, Lu noted, adding that the hotel sector needs time to train new recruits to replace the staff lost during the pandemic.
Macau Tourist Guides Union Chairman Lei Man Hou (right), The Federal General Commercial Association of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises President Fong Kin Fu (centre) and Macau Leisure Tourism Services Innovation Association President Lu Lianjin attend yesterday’s phone-in programme, “Ou Mun Gwong Cheuhng”, hosted by public broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio station.
– Photo courtesy of TDM
