Macau is seeking to meaningfully expand the percentage of its visitors from overseas, this time targeting the Middle East and Indian markets. However, a gaming scholar told AGB the move will be very challenging due to cultural differences.
The Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macau, Lei Wai Nong revealed at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that the Middle East and India will become new focuses in Macau’s tourism promotion efforts.
The official mentioned that, until 2019, Macau was “developing and doing well” in expanding the Indian tourist source market. At the same time, the authorities are also looking for agents to attract Middle Eastern guests to visit Macau.
Speaking to AGB, Professor Zeng Zhonglu, from the Macao Polytechnic University’s Gaming Research Team, said he believes that it will be a tough task for Macau to lure Indian and Middle East tourists due to the cultural and cuisine differences.
“India has a big population, although the per capita income is relatively low. If we can attract some high-income groups to come to Macau, the number will be considerable”, he mentioned.
Zeng added that how Macau overcomes the religious and language barrier for Middle East and Indian tourists is an important factor. The professor opines that bringing the tourists in should not be an issue due to Macau’s proximity to the Hong Kong International Airport. Â
Regarding the Middle East market, the scholar believes there will be much potential to attract high rollers. “If successful, it will be beneficial for Macau,” he said.
Currently, Macau is working on enhancing cooperation with the Hong Kong International Airport, pushing a new plan that will allow passengers arriving in Hong Kong to pick up their bags in Macau, therefore bypassing Hong Kong immigration. The luggage could be sent either via land or sea.
International tourists figures recovered to 25% of 2019 levels
The number of international visitors to Macau in April has recovered to about 25 percent of the 2019 levels and maintained an upward trend.
According to the Secretary for Economy and Finance, in the past four months the daily number of international visitors jumped 2.7 times from 977 in January to 3,630 in April.
However, the current capacity of international air links is still far from returning to 2019 levels.
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and Macau’s flagship carrier Air Macau jointly launched the “Buy One Get One Free” offer in April of this year. The offer is scheduled to end on June 30th. The authorities are studying the feasibility of extending the offer based on the market response.
At the same time, Macau began cooperating with Korean Jin Air in May. It will cooperate with AirAsia during the summer vacation to launch ticket discounts and more promotional packages to lure international visitors.
Secretary Lei also mentioned that MGTO is working with airlines interested in resuming flights to/from Macau to discuss cooperation content to attract tourists to visit and extend their stay in Macau.
According to Macau’s study on tourism patterns in 2022, MGTO found that among the overseas markets surveyed, travelers from South Korea and Thailand indicated that Macau is one of their top travel destinations in 2023.
Based on the survey results, Lei said that the MGTO will actively explore the sources of visitors in these two markets, including offering air tickets and hotel discounts and inviting relevant industries, media delegations, and tourism professionals to visit Macau for a travel experience. “The survey results help MGTO better identify promotion strategies to achieve precision marketing effects,” noted the official.
