South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
Mainland tourists are making a comeback in Macau, with over 30,000 visiting on a single day in October, but Hong Kong visitors are noticeably absent. Photo: Getty Images
Opinion
Destinations known
by Mercedes Hutton
Destinations known
by Mercedes Hutton

Hong Kong border reopening with mainland China could make Macau one of the biggest winners

  • Hongkongers love to gamble and an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of Macau’s gaming revenue came from or via Hong Kong pre-pandemic
  • If the bridge and ferries between Hong Kong and Macau are reopened, mainland tourists could also take advantage of the once popular ‘twofer’ trip.
Mercedes Hutton
Mercedes Hutton
Why you can trust SCMP

With the news that Hong Kong’s border with mainland China will soon begin to reopen comes hope that the city might finally be released from its coronavirus-induced isolation. The resumption of broader overseas travel is bound to follow, surely? Surely?

International businesses and folk with loved ones elsewhere in the world have been clamouring for the city’s border restrictions to be lifted, or at least loosened, for months. However, they aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from a freer flow of people into and out of Hong Kong – Macau, and its gambling industry, does, too.

Admittedly, Macau has not been as barricaded as Hong Kong, and main­land Chinese travellers have been trick­ling into the casino hub since July last year, providing an appreciated, if somewhat depleted, source of income for the tourism-dependent city. According to a 2020 report from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism usually accounts for 48 per cent of Macau’s gross domestic product.

Arrivals were down in 2020, of course, when Macau saw 5.9 million visitors, a decline of 85 per cent year on year, but that is still better than Hong Kong’s 93.6 per cent drop to 3.57 million. Numbers in 2021 remain depressed compared with pre-pandemic norms, when the “Asian Vegas” welcomed an average 3 million per month, but tourists (many of whom are gamblers) are making a comeback.

What China’s decoupling from US could mean for post-pandemic tourism

On October 29, 30,512 visitors entered Macau, figures that Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, told reporters she hoped the city could replicate in November and December, when it hosts the Macau Grand Prix, a food festival and the Macao Light Festival, featuring made-for-social-media illuminated installations.

However, even with more than 30,000 arrivals from the mainland per day, there is still an obvious absentee from Macau and its casinos – the Hong Kong visitor.

“A potential HK-China reopening would allow Macau to drop its quaran­tine requirements for Hong Kong residents, which historically comprised about 15 per cent of Macau’s gaming business,” analysts from institutional research firm Sanford C. Bernstein said, according to the Macau Business online magazine. “A reopening with Hong Kong would be a positive impact on Macau.”

Hongkongers love to gamble. A 2016 government report on participation in gambling activities found that 61.5 per cent of those surveyed had gambled in the past year – a “significant” decrease from the 77.8 per cent in 2001, sure, but still a sizeable proportion of the population. Macau wasn’t mentioned in that report, which focused on the Mark Six, “social gambling” such as mahjong and betting on horse races. However, a 2002 version of the survey noted that “many Hong Kong people visit Macau casinos and casino ships to bet”. (And with Macau closed, no wonder those cruises to nowhere have proved so popular.)

Can Hong Kong adopt Macau’s model in Covid-19 fight?

Citing a JP Morgan statement, the Inside Asian Gaming website reported on November 9 that “travel easing between Hong Kong and the mainland is likely to be applicable to Macau (which is already connected to the mainland without quarantine), and, hence, is incrementally positive to Macau’s demand”, adding that gross gaming revenue “from/via Hong Kong accounted for 15% to 20% of pre-Covid mass demand as per our rough estimate”.

Additionally, if an open border between mainland China and Hong Kong equated to the opening of the bridge and ferries between the city and Macau – something that is yet to be confirmed – mainland tourists could take advantage of the once popular “twofer” trip.

Visitors pose for photos at the Sky Box – KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The country recently announced that it will begin to welcome international visitors again by January 1, 2022 at the latest. Photo: SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

Malaysia sets deadline to welcome back international visitors

Malaysia is also relaxing border restrictions and has announced it will begin to welcome international visitors by January 1, 2022, at the latest, according to a recent Reuters report.

“Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who chairs a council tasked with spearheading Malaysia’s economic recovery programme, told reporters that the tourism industry was recovering too slowly without foreigners and noted that operators needed time to resume business,” the report continued.

Details of Malaysia’s full reopening are yet to be released, but the news follows an announcement that a quarantine-free travel corridor for vaccinated visitors will open between Malaysia and Singapore on November 29.
SkyHelix Sentosa in Singapore is set to open on December 15. Photo: SkyHelix Sentosa

Singapore’s SkyHelix Sentosa set to open ahead of schedule

Any Malaysians crossing the border into Singapore might not be in time to catch sight of the giant Kaws artwork displayed on The Float @ Marina Bay after a court ordered a halt to the exhibition on November 13, but they will be able to experience Singapore’s “highest open-air panoramic ride”.

The SkyHelix Sentosa is set to open “a few months ahead of schedule” on December 15 “in time for the school holidays and year-end festivities”, The Straits Times reported on November 11.

The 12-minute ride will rise 35 metres (115 feet) from the ground and spend 10 minutes at its apex, rotating so that sightseers can see across Sentosa and “the developing Greater Southern Waterfront”. Lovely.

For reference, Hong Kong’s Observation Wheel, occasionally mocked for its diminutive height amid Central’s skyscrapers, is 60 metres tall. The SkyHelix does have the advantage of being perched atop a hill, though.

Post