Lasting from 11^th to 17^th February, the seven-day Spring Festival Golden Week of Mainland China has come to an end. Given the stay-put call over the Spring Festival holidays, the preliminary statistics show that Macao welcomed 90,615 visitor arrivals during the Spring Festival Golden Week while the average occupancy rate of local hotels was 48.3%.

Overview of visitor arrivals to Macao during Spring Festival holidays

Visitor arrivals to Macao plunged during the Spring Festival Golden Week last year, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the Spring Festival Golden Week this year, average daily visitor arrivals decreased by 65.3% year-on-year. On the fifth and sixth days of the Lunar New Year (16 and 17 February), arrivals from the Mainland went up by 5.3% and 22.8% year-on-year, marking the two single days in this year’s Spring Festival Golden Week with a year-on-year increase.

Occupancy rate of hotel establishments

Figures provided by industry operators revealed that local hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) saw an average occupancy rate of 48.3% during the Spring Festival Golden Week, a year-on-year decrease of 4.6 percentage points. Up to date, the supply of local hotels and guest houses has reached a total of 41,886 rooms.

Industry figures show that the average occupancy rate of 5-Star hotels was 50.6%, down 4.7 percentage points. The average occupancy rate of 4-Star hotels was 49.8%, up by 1.5 percentage points. The average occupancy rate of 3-Star hotels was 46.1%, down 5.6 percentage points. The average occupancy rate of 2-Star hotels was 24.6%, down 23.0 percentage points, whereas the average occupancy rate of guest houses dropped by 13.3 percentage points to 27.3%.

Room rate of hotel establishments

The average room rate of hotel establishments (hotels and guest houses) in Macao was about 1,175.3 patacas during the Spring Festival Golden Week, a year-on-year decline of 42.1%. The average room rates of 5-Star and 4-Star hotels were around 1,444.8 patacas and 734.0 patacas respectively, down 38.7% and 51.5% respectively. The average room rates of 3-Star and 2-Star hotels were around 780.0 patacas and 206.2 patacas respectively, a decrease of 47.0% and 79.4%. The average room rate of local guest houses was around 167 patacas, down 78.9%.

Promotion for pandemic prevention

During the Spring Festival Golden Week, MGTO has leveraged different channels to inform visitors various information about the pandemic situation and prevention, such as displaying “Pandemic prevention tips for Mainland visitors in Macao” on TV screens at the Gongbei Port immigration hall, posting pandemic prevention guidelines on MGTO’s website, publicizing information on pandemic prevention at MGTO’s Tourist Information counters at different ports of entry, calling for attention on pandemic prevention on MGTO’s Wechat and Weibo accounts, producing the graphic abstract of “Pandemic prevention tips for Mainland visitors in Macao” in addition to distributing leaflets at MGTO’s Tourist Information counters, updating information about the latest arrangement for hotel venues for medical observation in Macao on MGTO’s website regularly, so that visitors and residents can promptly obtain relevant information in hand. In addition, hotel establishments and industry organizations continue to assist in disseminating pandemic prevention information to visitors.

Rigorous patrols

During the Spring Festival Golden Week, the Office conducted patrols at various tourist spots, ports of entry and districts, besides overseeing measures taken in hotels against the pandemic, with MGTO inspectors standing by round-the-clock. MGTO's tourism hotline (853) 2833 3000 maintained its 24-hour operator service.

Between 11^th – 17^th February, MGTO conducted a total of 10 inspections, targeting at major ports of entry, tourist attractions, as well as those pandemic preventive measures taken in hotels. During inspections, no sign of irregularities was discovered.

During the Spring Festival Golden Week, MGTO received five visitor complaints mainly about shopping, membership discount, service attitude, hygiene issues, and unlicensed operation.

Promotion to boost arrivals and steer tourism industry towards recovery

Following the stabilized pandemic situation in the Mainland, vaccination program and other factors, Macao anticipates a gradual rebound in visitor arrivals. Aiming at the Mainland visitor market, the Office will continue cooperation with e-commerce platforms, strengthen its promotional efforts on social media, plan to conduct a number of programs that attract visitors to Macao after the Spring Festival and tourism industry promotion activities in several cities in the Greater Bay Area, evaluate the feasibility of hosting promotion activities similar to the “Macao Week in Beijing” held in September last year in other major cities in the Mainland, highlighting Macao’s image as a safe and quality destination, bolstering travelers’ confidence and striving for more visitations from the Mainland to Macao. Furthermore, the Office will deepen “tourism +” cross-sector integration and promote captivating tourism products of “tourism + MICE”, “tourism + culture and creativity”, “tourism + sports”, etc., to steer the tourism industry towards recovery and generating greater momentum to move other industries forward.