As recently as last week, a travel bubble was planned for Hong Kong and Macau that would admit vaccinated travelers without mandatory quarantines. That plan is now off as the region copes with persistent Covid-19 infections.
The bubble was to have taken effect July 12, and would have given Macau’s struggling casino industry a “captive, cashed-up revenue source,” reported the Macao News. It’s been estimated that Hong Kong accounted for about 10 percent of Macau’s pre-pandemic gaming revenue. But days after it was announced, the bubble and accompanying “blue code” for approved travelers was canceled.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, 51 Macau hotels were to participate in the plan, which would have allowed fully vaccinated Hong Kong travelers to stay on designated hotel floors and visit dedicated gaming areas, but not use swimming pools or other aquatic facilities to minimize the risk of contagion. Other parts of the hotels such as common areas would also have been open to the travelers.
The Macau Health Bureau’s Covid-19 vaccination department was hoping to put aside a previous rule that banned travel from Hong Kong until the SAR had achieved zero local Covid cases for 28 days. Macau officials wanted evidence that any recent confirmed cases came from outside Hong Kong, indicating there was little risk of contagion, reported the Macau Daily Times.
Analysts at JP Morgan liked the prospect of opening travel between the two cities, and said it “would benefit large-scale integrated resorts more than the others, as guests are likely to be asked to stay within the property.” News of renewed travel also boosted shares in Macau’s gaming operators, sending Melco Resorts & Entertainment stock up by 3 percent in U.S. trading, and boosting Galaxy Entertainment and SJM Holdings shares by more than 4 percent in Hong Kong. Wynn Macau also was up 1.8 percent; Sands China saw an increase of 2 percent. Only MGM China ended lower on the news.
The global pandemic has been devastating for Macau’s gaming and tourism sectors. Asia Gaming Brief cited current data indicating that Macau welcomed fewer than 870,000 visitors in May and only 3.39 million visitors in the first five months of the year. During the same period in 2019, some 17.18 million visitors came to Macau, 12.2 million from Mainland China and 3.07 million from Hong Kong. Now, unfortunately, though more than 40 percent of the Chinese population has been fully vaccinated, only 21 percent of Hong Kong residents can say the same.
In the Philippines, only 5 percent of the population has been given a vaccine, causing President Rodrigo Duterte to extend the general community quarantine in Metro Manila to July 15, with “some restrictions.” The president also threatened to jail people who do not line up for a jab.
CNN Philippines reported that at the current rate of vaccination it will take 102 days to administer enough doses for another 10 percent of the population, making more outbreaks likely.
Australia, meanwhile, is undergoing a new wave of Covid infections, which caused casino and hotel closures through July 9.
J.P. Morgan analysts are estimating a “(very) likely poor June GGR” for Macau, but look to a normalization of revenues in the second half. But “much will depend on resumption of travel with China and timing of Hong Kong travel start,” the analysts said. “The daily quota may be increased in the next phases of reopening but will be subject to mutual agreement between Macau and Hong Kong.”
In other travel news, Macau still requires a 14-day quarantine on arrival for people traveling from parts of Guangzhou City and Yunnan Province. The Macau government has asked residents to avoid traveling to areas considered high-risk for Covid-19 infections. And the Cambodia Daily reports that that country has temporarily closed its borders with Thailand and Vietnam to slow the spread of Covid-19 in the kingdom.
ABS-CBN News, based in Quezon City, Philippines, said, “Misinformation and conspiracy theories are hampering Southeast Asian nation’s recovery from the pandemic by slowing vaccination rates.”
Officials in Singapore may have summed up the long-term situation. The bad news is that Covid-19 may never go away. A statement attributed to Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in part, “The good news is that it is possible to live normally with Covid-19 in our midst. We can turn the pandemic into something much less threatening, like influenza, hand, foot and mouth disease, or chickenpox, and get on with our lives.”
