Macau’s tourism bureau says that up to 3,000 hotel rooms are currently out of use due to a labor shortage in the city.
One primary difficulty is securing labor in housekeeping, with operators unable to fill quotas, despite a strong uptick in demand as visitors flow back into Macau since it lifted its entry requirements.
This is exacerbated by the reduction in non-resident workers seen during the pandemic, with over 40,000 non-resident workers leaving after their visas were canceled.
The tourism bureau’s deputy director told local media that the shortage is occurring despite Macau receiving over 50,000 visitors daily – even after the Chinese New Year holiday, which brought in 451,000 during the one-week period.
While the post-CNY period is typically regarded as low season, at least 48,000 visitors are still flooding in daily – with the official estimating that the resurgence in tour groups – authorized on February 6th – will help compensate for any potential drops in the numbers of individual tourists, under IVS (Individual Visit Scheme) visas.
