Coronavirus consequences still hurting Macau at Easter

The first three days of the recent Easter holiday period reportedly saw Macau welcome less than 900 tourists as measures put into place to stop the spread of the potentially-lethal coronavirus pandemic continue to take their toll.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming citing official figures from the enclave’s Public Security Police Force, only 810 visitors crossed the border into Macau between Friday morning and Sunday evening despite the fact that the city is one of the few in the world where casinos remain open.

Contrasting deterioration:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that Macau welcomed a paltry 260 holidaymakers on Friday before this figure improved the following day to hit only 280. However, the official data purportedly showed that just 270 visitors entered the former Portuguese outpost on Sunday to represent a 99.8% diminution when compared with last year’s tally.

Coronavirus come-down:

Macau is home to 39 casinos including SJM Holdings Limited’s iconic Casino Grand Lisboa as well as the equally impressive The Venetian Macao from the local Sands China Limited subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The city shuttered every one of these venues for a 15-day period in February so as to combat the highly-contagious coronavirus strain while their re-opening came with a range of mandatory social distancing measures that included increased space between players and reduced gaming table operations.

Travel troubles:

To make matters worse and Inside Asian Gaming reported that all public transportation between Macau and Hong Kong remains suspended while anyone entering the city from abroad is required to undergo 14 days in quarantine at a designated hotel. Although not all arrivals from mainland China are required to fulfil such an isolation obligation, visitation has nevertheless purportedly dried up due to the fact that officials in neighboring Guangdong Province recently instituted just such a check on anyone wishing to shift the other way.