Business Is Macao at risk of losing the Hong Kong tourism market?
ma25 The Lunar New Year has traditionally been a boom period for Macao’s tourism sector and this year was no different, with the city welcoming some 1.3 million visitors between 28 January and 4 February. While this figure represents a slight drop of 3.5 percent year-on-year, the daily average of more than 100,000 travellers entering Macao before, during and after the festivities was deemed “considerable” by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO). [ See more: Hong Kong tourists are shunning Macao for Shenzhen, expert warns ] Concerns, however, have been raised within the local tourism industry over the year-on-year drop of 8.9 percent in Hong Kong arrivals during the 8-day “ golden week ” period. Early last month, Andy Wu, the president of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, urged the government to take note of the “relatively big” fall in visitors from the neighbouring SAR, which he said stemmed from Hong Kongers choosing to visit Shen...