Участник:Golden Week, Macao Recovery Set the Stage for 3rd Month
Golden Week saw about 970,000 visitors from mainland China to Macau from Oct. 1-7, with the total number of visitors reaching about 1.15 million. While visits to China increased by 6.9% year-on-year, overall visits during the holiday season increased by about 8%.
According to local reports citing the Macau government's tourism agency's announcement, hotel occupancy rates reached up to 92.3 percent overall, with five-star accommodation at 94.4 percent as tourists travel during the week beginning with the People's Republic of China National Day every year. There are only three legal holidays, but four Mid-Autumn Festival, postponed holidays, and holidays allow seven or eight days of leisure.
Part of the increase, which has been mostly public market gamblers and tourists rather than VIPs, may be due to curiosity about the newly opened Win Palace and Paris Macao in Cotai. The opening of the new mega-resorts has also pushed down room prices across the SAR, with some reports suggesting that room rates have dropped by an average of 50%. The law of supply and demand suggests that room rates will likely rise as more visitors compete for available accommodation, but Macau's economy is still in a period of transition, and its high share after the addition of about 5,000 rooms illustrates the industry's move to the mass market.
After 26 consecutive months of economic contraction, Macau began to see an uptick again in August and September, with total gaming revenue up 1.1% in August and just over 7% in September. Golden Week will boost that figure for the third straight month with mixed and mostly positive forecasts for the rest of the year.