On the night of the 11th, ‘Burning Friday’, the casinos in Macau, the ‘city of gambling’, are full of customers.
Crowds of people are gathered outside the casino building, which is brightly lit and brightly lit.
It is crowded with tourists who enjoy taking pictures and people going in and out of the gambling hall.
However, Westerners are rarely seen, and most of them speak Putonghua (Mandarin), the standard Chinese language, or Cantonese (Cantonese), which is used in Hong Kong.
Reflecting that mainland Chinese guests are the most important customers, English is barely spoken at some casino hotels.
People keep getting on the casino buses that transport guests to the border area with China.
Macau is coming back to life with Chinese tourists flocking to the city for the summer holidays.
According to Bloomberg News, Macau casino sales last month recovered to 68% of pre-COVID-19 levels.
Last month, the number of visitors to Macao recovered to 71% of pre-COVID-19 levels, and local hotel room occupancy reached 89%, the Macau Tourism Board said.
In July of last year, Macau entered a ‘quasi-lockdown’ due to the spread of COVID-19, halting casino operations.
Previously, Macau locked its borders when the COVID-19 pandemic began in January 2020, but only allowed casinos, which account for 80% of tax revenue, to continue operating.
At the same time, we continued to operate by accepting tourists from low-risk areas in China.
However, as the highly contagious Omicron mutation spread, even casinos were forced to close for about two weeks.
Macau’s casino business has stumbled after three years of ‘Zero Corona’.
Last year, the average number of visitors to Macau per day was only 15,000, and casino-related workers left the city in large numbers.
Then, in January of this year, when China switched to ‘With Corona’, Macau, which reopened its borders, began to recover thanks to Chinese tourists and is becoming more lively with the summer vacation season.
Crowds at Macau’s landmarks, Senado Square and the ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, appear to have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Many Chinese people were seen broadcasting live on the Internet in front of the ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
However, there is also an observation from 토토사이트 that Macau’s tourism recovery may be hit in the second half of the year due to China’s economic slowdown.
Additionally, Bloomberg pointed out that as China fully allows group tours to 78 countries, including Korea, the United States, and Japan, this month and begins to increase international passenger flights, the number of Chinese people going to Macao may decrease.
