Covid-19-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam’s recent proposal of a “travel bubble” between Macau and Hong Kong circle tumbleweeds in motion on the other face of the other side of the Pearl River Delta.

The South People's Republic of China Morning Post reports that Lam’s overtures were “cold-shouldered” past her similitude inwards Macau, which has begun its bounce-back from a pandemic-induced slump.

Macau has proved to live remarkably COVID-19 resistant, and wants to keep it that way. The gaming hub has recorded only a few dozen cases inwards total, all of them inwards the earliest stages of the pandemic. In fact, the enclave has been completely COVID-19-free for 400 days.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has seen quaternion coronavirus waves, with 11,755 cases and 209 deaths. The SAR was recording upwards of 120 cases per solar day at its crown finally year.

Those figures are subdue inwards compare with worldwide COVID hotspots. But for some regional perspective, cases inward Hong Kong, universe 7 million, consistently outstripped the total Chinese mainland, population 1.4 billion, for to the highest degree the past year — at least, officially.

Visitors Return

After an initial full stop of self-isolation, Macau began welcoming visitors from mainland China, for the most part without quarantine restrictions, inward September. Visitors from Hong Kong are stock-still case to required 21-day quarantine.

Despite billions having been spent on new infrastructure to land the II special administrative regions closer unitedly in recent years, it looks similar it testament rest that path for now.

Hong Kong’s slip numbers experience dwindled to bingle figures. But Macau officials said endure calendar week in that respect had been no more talks around creating any new locomote bubbles with any other region.

There’s too practically at post for the gambling hub, which is now marketing itself as a safe holidaymaker destination. Visitor numbers plummeted by 85 percent in 2020. In March, they rose to their highest since before the pandemic, with 754,541 arrivals.

Macau is also gaining travelers who power have otherwise gone to Hong Kong. Mainlanders get been assign off by the pandemic and the social unrest that has gripped the city.

Bullish on Macau

UBS analysts said Thursday that gaming stocks interpret a buying opportunity, as they expected cassino revenues inward Macau to rocket formerly it to the full reopens its borders.

And until then, the securities industry will uphold to welfare from the repressed demand of mainland travelers.

“Ultimately it depends on whether the butt on testament completely reopen,” said Angus Chan of UBS Global Research. “When and how Macau’s abut with Hong Kong reopens testament also hold an impact. These are more short-term volatilities. But our lowly grammatical case is that Covid-19 testament straits eventually.”

This news is brought to you by the 918Kiss Malaysia.