Businesses report CNY revenue growth but still call for govt support

2025-02-04 03:11
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Interview by Yuki Lei

        The mainland’s eight-day Chinese New Year (CNY) Golden Week ends today, and according to provisional figures from the Public Security Police (PSP), Macau set a new record for single-day visitor arrivals during this year’s “Golden Week” holiday, with 219,092 arrivals recorded last Friday, i.e., the third CNY day, in response to which business leaders from the peninsula’s central and southern districts, Taipa and Coloane, as well as the city’s northern district told the Post in separate interviews yesterday that the wave of visitors has boosted commercial activities in their areas, with business growth of more than 30-40 percent, 10-20 percent, and nearly 10 percent respectively.

According to yesterday’s PSP figures, from last Tuesday to Sunday, the total number of arrivals and departures stood at about 3,687,700, an increase of 9 percent compared to the same period of the Chinese New Year last year. Based on the PSP statistics, the calculation showed that Macau recorded more than 841,000 visitor arrivals in the first five days of the eight-day mainland holiday.


‘At least one-tenth of tourists willing to spend money here’

Speaking to the Post at his jewellery shop near the St Paul’s Ruins landmark, Lei Cheok Kuan, chairman of the Industry and Commerce Federation of the Macau Central and Southern Districts, admitted that in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, and with online shopping already in vogue for years, there was no denying that consumers’ shopping patterns have changed: “The consumption patterns of Generation Z [aka Gen Z, which encompasses individuals born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s] have changed, and they are more focused on travel experience and ‘clock in’ at tourist attractions”.

Citing the PSP figure of 219,000 visitor arrivals recorded on the third CNY day, Lei said that business operators, particularly in the city centre, were “very happy” to see the massive return of tourists to Macau, pointing out that their turnover had increased by 30 to 40 percent compared to the recent Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays: “The influx of tourists has significantly stimulated commercial activity in Macau”.

In response to the sector’s claim that the current business environment was still in a situation where there are many visitors, but without necessarily leading to business growth, Lei said: “It’s still a little bit worse” than before the pandemic.  However, he was quick to point out the importance of an influx of tourists to businesses, using the example of the Ruins of St Paul’s area: “Unlike in the past when nine out of 10 tourists would buy souvenirs here, thanks to visitors’ large replenishment flow, the trade would still benefit from at least one out of 10 tourists willing to spend money here”.

According to Poe, “visitors’ replenishment flow” refers to the pattern or process of how visitors return or are replaced at a particular location, such as a tourist attraction, event, or venue.

Lei highlighted the fact that the consumption pattern of Gen Z has changed, urging local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to upgrade and transform their business operations, such as providing products and services that stand out from their competitors by having unique features, designs or benefits to “attract this group of young people”: “From my own point of view, Gen Z basically doesn’t care about neighbourhoods or tourist areas, they only focus on whether they’ve seen your company’s products on social media platforms, and whether they’ve heard of your name or not”.

Lei also expressed hope that the government could develop more tourist attractions in the areas surrounding the St Paul’s Ruins landmark.


‘Tourists more inclined to eat street food than dining in eateries’

Another popular place for souvenir shopping, Rua de Cunha, in the centre of “Old Taipa”, also recorded an increase in business, according to the chairman of the Taipa and Coloane Industry and Commerce Federation, Yeong Keng Hoi, who said: “Roughly speaking, there has been an increase of 10-20 percent” in turnover.

Yeong, who talked to the Post while walking around the temporarily pedestrianised precinct, also pointed out tourists’ changes in their consumption patterns after the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, from a tendency to dine in restaurants in the past to a preference for street food nowadays.  However, he was quick to add that brick-and-mortar shops still do have business, but their revenue has dropped slightly when compared to the pre-pandemic levels. “In the overall calculation, that amount is not too small, but the proportion of street food in the area’s total revenue is having a big impact on restaurants,” Yeong said.

In response to some traders’ concerns that the visitors to the district are mostly attracted by street food and large-scale souvenir shops, Yeong said his federation would continue to communicate with the government to suggest more measures conducive to the business environment, but that “in business, it’s really a matter of each of them finding their own way”, urging business operators to be adaptable and self-reliant in the light of changing circumstances, in terms of their services and products, as well as their promotion campaigns.


‘Business better than usual during CNY holidays’ in northern district

People’s livelihood and economic issues have always been closely related to public life, and in terms of the local “community economy”, according to the president of the Industry and Commerce Association of Macau Northern District, Wong Kin Chong, the number of tourists visiting that district was still insufficient, but during the long CNY holiday, shop operators reported a 10 percent increase compared with the normal period.

Wong said that according to his assessment more local residents chose to stay and spend money in Macau during the CNY break to avoid long queues at border checkpoints, “which improved business during the weekdays”. However, he also expressed concern that after the holiday, local residents would again choose “to go north”, which would trigger a return to the “dismal” business environment in the district.

“To go north” is a local colloquialism for visiting Zhuhai and other mainland cities north of Macau for shopping, eating out and other leisure activities.

Commenting on the government’s ongoing efforts to encourage visitors to engage with the community, Wong pointed out that the results were “not very good”, saying he believed that traffic problems and the lack of special attractions are the main reasons why tourists do not visit the northern district, in the light of which Wong urged the government to improve Macau’s public transport problem by, for example, increasing the number of shuttle bus services and creating special attractions.

Wong also told the Post in a phone interview he hoped that the government would launch consumption vouchers to encourage tourists to spend money in the northern district, and at the same time, provide support to business operators there to improve their business environment. 

Visitors queue at Margaret’s Café e Nata on Rua do Comandante Mata e Oliveira (澳門新馬路馬統領街) during last week’s Chinese New Year holiday. – Photo: Rui Pastorin

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