Macau Casino Disappoints Extremely 'Golden Week'
Macau reportedly had a bad "Golden Week" holiday period as the average daily casino visitor, which is usually impressive, was only 1,166, down 93.7% from the previous year.
According to official information from the Macau Public Security Police Department, gambling-friendly facilities in the former Portuguese enclave saw their average drop to 1,668 three days later after receiving an average of 1,749 visitors on Oct. 1. The condition worsened after tally was tallied at 669, dropping further to 498 the following day, the sources added.
Also known as National Day, the annual Golden Week holiday, which spans the first week of October, regularly included many mainland tourists visiting Macau to celebrate the founding of China's modern state and enjoy the city's rich entertainment and gambling facilities. But this year's came to a halt after two locals tested positive for the coronavirus's 'Delta variant'.
Macau's government reportedly responded to the news by going into 'immediate pandemic prevention' mode and launching a four-day mass coronavirus testing program. Although the campaign has found no new cases of the disease, which can eventually be fatal, officials in Hong Kong say they have cancelled their Come2HK and Return2HK quarantine-free travel plans just hours before officials in China reinstate a decree requiring people returning from casino-friendly cities to endure mandatory two-week detention.
All of this has contributed to a significant drop in the number of people travelling to Macau during the 'Golden Week' holiday, and yesterday's average daily casino visitors across the city came to a miserable 418. To make matters worse, the number of tourists entering the city from mainland China over the past week has dropped to just 7,393, down from about 788,900 last year, sources said.
Related news and Inside Asian Gaming reported Macau yesterday decided to maintain its own coronavirus-related border control raft until at least 80% of its population is fully vaccinated. The source explained that the move follows recommendations from the city's new coronavirus response and coordination center and the fact that so far only about 45% of the local population has been comprehensively vaccinated against the highly contagious disease.