By Jordis Man
On the National Day, about 12,000 people gathered in the "Golden Lotus Plaza", watching the flag-raising ceremony. Over half of them were tourists from the mainland.
During the "golden week" of the China's national holiday, tourist arrivals to Macao totalled 547,816, as released by the government office. It is believed this is largely due to the new policy for individual travellers from China.
Since late July the Chinese government started opening up the policy for mainland people to travel to Macao and Hong Kong on an individual basis. Residents in Beijing, Shanghai and major cities in Guangdong can now visit Macao and Hong Kong for seven days without joining a tour group. This contributes to the increase of the total number of tourists to Macau to 1,273,391 last month, the highest monthly number of tourists ever recorded.
This policy is especially beneficial for people from the neighbouring Guangdong Province. The application procedure is very simple. For a seven-day individual visit, Guangdong residents just need to apply for a five-year travel pass at the local security bureau together with their identity cards and passports. Once they receive the pass, they can apply for up to two entries in three months to Macao or Hong Kong at a cost of 20 yuan per entry.
Most mainland tourists love shopping in Macao. Mr. and Mrs. Yip from Zhuhai pointed out that it is because brand-name products are cheaper, more up to date and there are more choices in Macao, whereas in the mainland, there are too many fake products. "I will have more confidence to shop in Macao, especially expensive products with famous brands," Mrs. Yip said. The most popular things for mainland shoppers are jewelry, clothes, cosmetics, handbags, shoes and watches. This is a very good sign for retail sales.
However, some tourists are concerned about the increasing rate of hotel rooms, as most hotels were fully booked during the National Day holiday. Mr. Chan, a visitor from Guangzhou, said, "Hotels in Macao have increased their rates too much. Even though I booked the hotel room two weeks in advance, I was still told that all the rooms were booked except expensive ones. I had to accept the high price as I had no choice."
Another big event for Macao to promote to mainland tourists is the 50th Grand Prix, which will come in November. The Macao Government has planned to host a series of celebration activities for the 50th anniversary. This will last for a whole month and a large influx of tourists is expected.