Welcome October occupancy prediction for Macau

In Macau and the beginnings of a post-coronavirus recovery for the local casino industry could reportedly soon be on the cards following news that the city’s combined five-star hotel bookings for the first week of October are already hovering near the 80% mark.

According to a Tuesday report from Inside Asian Gaming, the former Portuguese enclave has recently suffered through five consecutive months in which its 39 casinos have seen their aggregated gross gaming revenues fall by at least 90% year-on-year owing to an associated drop in the numbers of arriving tourists.

Added alleviation:

However, it was reported that Macau’s large array five-star hotels are now experiencing something of a revival as guests have begun reserving rooms in advance of this year’s edition of the annual ‘Golden Week’ national holiday, which is set to run for the seven days beginning from October 1. The source cited a recent survey from global brokerage and investments firm Morgan Stanley in making the 80% claim while moreover revealing that the prestigious Morpheus, Four Seasons Hotel, Studio City Macau, The Ritz-Carlton and StarWorld Macau facilities are already fully booked.

Relaxed revival:

Also known as ‘National Day,’ the annual ‘Golden Week’ public holiday commemorates the establishment of the modern state of China and has regularly involved large numbers of mainland tourists visiting Macau in order to enjoy the city’s plethora of entertainment and gambling facilities. Although fears were reportedly high that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic would stifle such visitation, Beijing last month boosted revival hopes by once again beginning to issue Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) and group travel visas following an over 23-week suspension that had been directly linked to the outbreak.

Great gap:

The survey from Morgan Stanley reportedly furthermore revealed that occupancy rates at five-star hotels in Macau for this coming weekend currently stand at around 50%, which compares with just 7% for the same period in July. This former figure is additionally as much as five times higher than for the two days from September 4 although this success has purportedly come at the expense of daily room rates, which are anywhere from 10% to 55% lower.