Macau recently saw a surge of visitors over the Chinese New Year (CNY) and in order to find out how this affected people here, the Post interviewed some of them in the city centre and S. Lázaro neighbourhood.
A 27-year-old local woman surnamed Un, who lives in Taiwan but came to Macau for the CNY, said she believed that the number of people who came to the city over the eight-day holiday period was comparable to the CNY period before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city in 2020.
Un pointed out that during the holiday she didn’t walk through tourist areas like Largo do Senado, and there were long queues at restaurants promoted on social media. She also said that when she wanted visit a local restaurant where she used to dine, there was at least a 15–20-minute wait each time. “It’s kind of troublesome, but I think it’s good for Macau’s economy because I know that many restaurants closed during the pandemic”.
Kuo, a Hongkonger interviewed along with Un, added that although many places in Macau are within walking distance, if one needed to take a taxi or public transport during the holiday, “you could never get one”. “I was at a pier this [yesterday] afternoon and waited for like 20 minutes to hail a taxi to go to the city centre. It’s not convenient if you need to take public transport, but things are within walking distance, so it’s okay if you know how to walk around here”, the 28-year-old remarked.
Meanwhile, David, a local toy shop owner in his 30s, noted that his business saw a little bit of an improvement in sales during the holiday period. Despite the huge number of tourists coming into the city, he pointed out that aspects of his daily life such as commuting to work were not affected.
On the other hand, Chen, who owns a clothing shop, said he enjoyed more than just a small improvement in business. “Eighty percent of my customers during the Chinese New Year were from mainland China and Hong Kong”, he said, adding that the number of people coming into the city was “effective” and brought more income to his shop. The 37- year-old noted that the period was quite good for business.
But Chen also pointed out that traffic in Macau was affected and was “totally messy”, noting that Macau is a small place with many cars which will be affected if there are “too many” tourists. However, he said another way to look at things is that if there are no tourists, there will be no income for Macau, especially during the CNY period where many locals travel to the mainland or Hong Kong. “For the shops, I hope more tourists come to Macau, but on the other hand, the traffic will be messy”, he added.
Traffic was also a problem for two local high school students – who preferred to remain anonymous – in the runup to the Chinese New Year. Both are from a school in the city centre, and said they were unable to get to school [on time]. A solution to the holiday traffic predicament that they proposed is to keep count of the number of tourists coming to a certain area and set limits to avoid overcrowding.
A souvenir shop near the Ruins of St. Paul’s was able to benefit from the influx of tourists, with many walking past the shop on their way down from visiting the local landmark, according to a staff member surnamed Zhan. “We had a lot of customers this Chinese New Year. A lot of people came, so business was good”, the 63-year-old pointed out. She said that the more people there were, the better it was for the business.
Zhan concluded that it’s hard to avoid overcrowding during the CNY holiday period in Macau because the city is small, adding that even she couldn’t walk through the area when she finished work due to the big visitor crowds there during the period.
Tourists throng Rua de S. Paulo yesterday afternoon. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
