The Macau Post Daily interviewed several tourists at the Ruins of St. Paul’s yesterday to get their opinions on budget accommodation, with most citing its potential benefits, while others had mixed views on the matter.
Wang, aged 21 and Li, aged 22, are two female friends who visited Macau from the mainland for just a day. Both pointed out that, on average, accommodation is cheaper in the mainland than in Macau.
For mainland tourists, Wang and Li pointed out, the budget-friendly option is to stay in Zhuhai and cross the border during the daytime to visit Macau. They said that many tourists opt to book hotels in Zhuhai rather than in Macau because of the price difference. However, Li added, this is also a disincentive to visit Macau for more than one day.
“If there were more budget accommodation available, Macau’s tourism industry would benefit enormously”, Wang noted, who expressed her own interest in spending more time in Macau. If accommodation was cheaper, she said, that would be an incentive for tourists to do more sightseeing and become more familiar with Macau’s unique Chinese-Portuguese culture.
She added that mainland tourists would be more attracted to Macau if more budget hotels were available as well as if transport between Zhuhai and Macau were more convenient, which would stimulate the local market.
Moreover, Li mentioned that the extended stay would allow her to visit more local businesses. “I’d really be able to enjoy Macau’s culture rather than just visiting tourist traps.”
Li said she considered budget accommodation to be an unequivocally positive thing. “Budget accommodation would mostly benefit students and those on a lower income. It can also improve mainland and Macau relations”, she said.
Moreover, Poon, aged 29, and Ryan, aged 32, are from Hong Kong and Australia respectively. The couple said that Macau has very few hostels that would be more budget-friendly to tourists. “If they had hostels, that’d be great. I don’t mind sharing a bunk bed or anything. But I think the land is too small so Macau only has hotels.”
Hostels provide much cheaper accommodation in Australia than hotels, Poon pointed out.
However, both underlined that even though cheaper accommodation would attract more tourists, people were often unaware of the deals that already exist to make accommodation cheaper.
Attracted by a Buy-1-Get-1 free coupon, Poon and Ryan are staying in Macau for two days. Poon said, “It’s like A$60 per night [324 patacas]” – “For two people,” Ryan added. The coupon offered them free ferry tickets for spending one night in Macau. Otherwise, they said, hotel stays on their own would be too expensive for them.
According to Poon, she and Ryan would very happily extend their stay if not for the high rate of hotel rooms. Both also said they believed that budget accommodation would be an incentive for more tourists to visit and extend their stay in Macau.
Freitas, a 28-year-old Portuguese tourist staying in Macau for around a week, noted that having more budget-friendly accommodation options would probably help with increasing tourists’ length of stay, adding that it may enable tourists “to do pricier activities”. “As long as it is comfortable and secure, I don’t see why one cannot stay in cheaper accommodation”.
It could also be beneficial to Macau, Freitas added, but he also noted that in attracting more tourists from Europe or the US, it may not just be about the money and budget, but the language barrier.
A Filipino day tripper named John also said that there was still room for budget accommodation in the city given how many tourists it attracts. “Maybe, there would be a lot of time for us to roam around Macau and explore different places here”, possibly helping them decide on staying longer, he said.
The 25-year-old elaborated that from a tourist’s perspective, discovering that budget-friendly accommodation would be widely available might convince one to tell one’s friends and family that it would be possible to stay in Macau for longer than just a day.
Mixed views
Meanwhile, Leung, a Hong Kong woman staying for two days, said she thought that Macau is “quite affordable”. However, the city may benefit other tourists, particularly those from the mainland that come to Macau mainly for gambling, she said, adding: “Maybe they are looking for a budget hotel, which would be more beneficial for them”, the 26-year-old said. Moreover, for Macau, it could also bring more income from tourists as a whole, she said.
Suwaphit, a 40-year-old Thai tourist staying for three days, complimented the city’s night life and gastronomy. She said that Macau, including its accommodation, was not very expensive, with prices similar to those in Thailand.
However, she remarked that having cheaper options may not be that beneficial, noting that there may be a perception of the place “not [being] safe for tourists”.
Moreover, she said, although she finds Macau an affordable place to visit, prices are not an important determinant in how long she would be willing to stay in the city, given that it “is not that big”, with around three to five days being long enough to stay here before moving on to Hong Kong.
Tourists visit the Ruins of St. Paul’s yesterday afternoon. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
