The slow recovery seen in the immediate weeks after the February 20 reopening of the casinos has been followed more recently by “a pickup in coronavirus cases leading to new travel restrictions in mid-March led to a drop in GGR and visitation.”
“IVS (individual visit scheme) and group visas into Macau remained suspended and most transport is severely disrupted with airlines having canceled or limited flights into Macau and surrounding airports back in February,” they added.
The inability of most foreign travellers to come to the territory is a key hindrance: “The gaming operators and other Macau based contacts we have spoken with do not see any clarity on timing of recovery.”
What little revenue has been coming in has been “driven by a very small number of players, with lower than normal hold in VIP and significant volatility.”
According to the city’s Public Security Police, Macau received an aggregate of fewer than 1,000 visitors over the Easter weekend. In 2019 the statistical daily average for tourist visitors was circa 108,000 per day, based on that year’s tally of 39.4 million arrivals as reported previously be the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
Source: GMB / AG Brief
