The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said in a statement today that it has discarded the idea of introducing a tourist tax.
MGTO made the announcement in a statement, saying that it took the decision to jettison the proposition after a "comprehensive assessment" of the findings of a feasibility study on such a tax, as well as in response to the COVID-19 crisis, which has severely affected Macau's tourism industry since late January.
The statement noted that Macau's visitor arrivals have plunged in recent month due to the pandemic.
The statement also said that it was now the government's priority to promote the tourism sector's recovery.
The tourist tax study, which was completed last year, concluded that there was no consensus on the matter among different stakeholders. In the wake of the novel coronavirus crisis, visitor arrival numbers have fallen dramatically since the beginning of this year. Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22. A total of 45 cases have been confirmed. No COVID-19 death and only one serious case have been reported by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM).
The statement pointed out that the number of visitor arrivals fell 92.5 percent from 2.8 million in January to 210,000 in March. The statement described the decline as a "massive blow" to the local tourism industry including the hotel, catering and retail sectors.
The statement also said that the tourism industry is "more susceptible to external factors" than other sectors. "When an emergency or unforeseen situation arises, the travel trade is often at the forefront to suffer the impact...," the statement said.
The government announced last month that the Macau Government Tourism Office will be moved from the social affairs and culture secretariat to the economy and finance secretariat later this year so that tourism and gaming affairs will come under the same portfolio.
Gaming and tourism combined are Macau's main breadwinner.
The idea of introducing the tourist tax was controversially launched by Macau's previous government at a time when visitor arrival numbers were rising at a rapid pace.
Visitor arrivals last year reached 39.4 million, up 10.1 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics.
