Macau Tourism has seen a declining graph this year. The lack of tourism has put forth many questions in front of the authorities. One of the main reasons for the declining tourism, however, could arguably be the Hong Kong Unrest. Hong Kong is the second biggest source of tourism of Macau and the continuous protest in Hong Kong could have triggered the fall in tourism in Hong Kong. However, there is no statistical evidence to support that. But can the situation change now? Well, it seems to be as the protest is slowly getting towards the violent mode. As the reports emerged, both sides are getting frustrated now and Beijing seems to be encouraging the Hong Kong Police to take a stricter approach now. Things could escalate in the coming days and that could obviously hit Macau tourism.
A near-fatal shooting of a protester in Hong Kong by a policeman has raised serious doubts about the condition now. An unarmed man was seen arguing with the protesters in a train station. H was accusing them of not being Chinese. He was doused in flammable liquid and set on fire. The history says that the longer the protest goes on, the worse the condition gets. It has been witnessed that if a protest goes on for long with no resolution tends to get violent and that is exactly what is happening in Hong Kong now.
One could argue that the Hong Kong protest has not affected Macau as the section of the population which is protesting does not really travel back to Macau. However, with the violence now started, China might soon curb travel, impose curfew and capital controls and at the worst can cause the Chinese Invasion of Hong Kong. Any of these actions can impact the other section of the Hong Kong Population as well that travels to Macau.
Hong Kong visitors in Macau are around 20% of total visitors in Macau with Mainland China contributes 70% of the visitors. Nearly 3.2% of visitors come from Taiwan and 0.5% from the US as well. The Government Tourism Office said that at least 565,000 people came to Macau from neighboring Hong Kong. This is actually 27.2% more than September 2018. It clearly indicates that the protest might not be impacting the Macau tourism. It can be said that VIPs never participate in the protest irrespective of the view of Chinese Encroachment and only the people from humble backgrounds go and fight for their lives reported Calvinayre. However, things have already starting to change now. In the first 10 days of November, the Mass-market has increased by 10% while the VIP volume is reduced by 10%.
This could be decisive for Macau tourism along with the trade war. The trade war between the US and China is not de-escalating and that is bad news for Macau as well. With the elections in the US next year, it is going to remain a strong issue and there is not much hope for de-escalating at least for a year now. Both the Presidents are trying to clamp down on each other without achieving any particular benefit. Chinese President wants to portray Trump as an unreasonable man and wants him out of the office next year. On the other Trump wants Xi to use force in Hong Kong so that the situation gets even worse for China.
In the midst of everything Hong Kong is suffering so is Macau Tourism. One can say that the next year would not be a great time for the hospitality business of Macau.
