The Public Security Police monitor the city’s boundary crossings and handle immigration matters.
As noted in the release, the police said that the flow of inbound and outbound travellers started to see a “rapid decline” starting from the end of January last year, when several measures to contain the spread of COVID -19 were introduced.
The measures included a halt by mainland China’s authorities in the issuing of tourist visas for visits to Macau and Hong Kong, starting on January 29, 2020.
Macau saw a “record-low” in visitor arrivals in March last year, the police commentary said. On March 29, only 233 visitors entered, compared with a daily average of more than 107,000 for the full year-2019.
Since the March low, the figures generally showed incremental improvement in terms of mainland visitors, the only consumer group currently entitled – in most cases – to quarantine-free entry to Macau.
Starting in August, applications for Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visas to go to Macau were resumed in Guangdong province. Quarantine-free travel to Macau by Chinese tourists had later been widened to other mainland provinces and cities, from September 23, the police announcement noted.
During December, the daily average of tourist arrivals was 21,000, a 78.5% decrease year-on-year, the Public Security Police noted in their release.
Regarding February’s upcoming Chinese New Year break – traditionally a peak period for trade at the city’s casino resorts and tourism businesses – the local tourism authority said on Wednesday that visitor arrivals for the week-long holiday could be “lower” than had previously been anticipated.
China’s State Council has designated February 11 to 17 inclusive, as the Chinese New Year holiday period for 2021.
Source: GGR Asia
