Macau’s hotel occupancy rate could exceed 80 percent during the Dragon Boat Festival weekend, from June 22nd to 25th, says the president of the Macau Tourism Industry Association.
Speaking to local media, Andy Wu said that hotel bookings and room rates are slightly higher during Dragon Boat Festival than on normal weekends.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a public holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Thursday was a public holiday in three regions. However, only mainland China allows consecutive days off, from the 22nd to the 24th, with workers returning to work on Sunday.
Wu believes that there will be significant demand for short-haul travel during the period, noting that Macau is a popular destination for short trips. Four-star hotels may cost up to MOP 2,000 ($250) per night, while integrated resorts’ hotels may charge up to MOP 3,000 ($372) per room.
Macau’s daily visitor arrival figures have stabilized recently, with Wu noting that only the holiday season can drive more visitors. The tourism expert also considers that the tepid recovery pace in early June was because of less-than-expected international visitors to the city.
He laments that the current air capacity has yet to fully return to a normal level, and the overseas visitor number has recovered to only 30 percent of 2019 levels. However, he notes that these figures allow for much potential for growth.
Information from the Public Security Police indicate that Macau received 96,305 tourists until 9 pm on Thursday, the first day of Dragon Boat weekend, which is much higher than the forecasted 70,000.
Macau had 2,213,807 visitors in May. The figure fell 2.6 percent compared to April. It is the fifth month in which tourism numbers have passed 1 million since the pandemic forced the city to close its borders in 2020.
