{"id":172846,"date":"2021-05-06T09:15:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T16:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=172846"},"modified":"2021-05-06T14:24:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T21:24:10","slug":"covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam\u2019s recent proposal of a \u201ctravel bubble\u201d between Macau and Hong Kong set tumbleweeds in motion on the other side of the Pearl River Delta.<\/p>\n

\"Macau
Hong Kong Carrie Lam, seen at a press conference above, overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-19-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The South China Morning Post<\/em> reports that Lam\u2019s overtures were \u201ccold-shouldered\u201d by her counterpart in Macau, which has begun its bounce-back<\/a> from a pandemic-induced slump.<\/p>\n

Macau has proved to be remarkably COVID-19 resistant and wants to keep it that way. The gambling hub has recorded only a few dozen cases in total, all of them in the earliest stages of the pandemic. In fact, the enclave has been completely COVID-19-free for 400 days.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has seen four coronavirus waves, with 11,755 cases and 209 deaths. The SAR was recording upwards of 120 cases per day at its peak last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those figures are tame in comparison with global COVID hotspots. But for some regional perspective, cases in Hong Kong, population 7 million, consistently outstripped the entire Chinese mainland, population 1.4 billion, for most the past year — at least, officially.<\/p>\n

Visitors Return <\/strong><\/h2>\n

After an initial period of self-isolation, Macau began welcoming visitors from mainland China, largely without quarantine restrictions, in September. Visitors from Hong Kong are still subject to a compulsory 21-day quarantine.<\/p>\n

Despite billions having been spent on new infrastructure<\/a> to bring the two special administrative regions closer together in recent years, it looks like it will stay that way for now.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong\u2019s case numbers have dwindled to single figures. But Macau officials said last week there had been no talks about creating any new travel bubbles with any other region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s too much at stake for the gambling hub, which is now marketing itself as a safe tourist destination. Visitor numbers plummeted by 85 percent in 2020. In March, they rose to their highest<\/a> since before the pandemic, with 754,541 arrivals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Macau is also gaining travelers who might have otherwise gone to Hong Kong. Mainlanders have been put off by the pandemic and the social unrest that has gripped the city.<\/p>\n

Bullish on Macau <\/strong><\/h2>\n

UBS analysts said Thursday that gaming stocks represent a buying opportunity, as they expected casino revenues in Macau to skyrocket once it fully reopens its borders.<\/p>\n

And until then, the market will continue to benefit from the pent-up demand of mainland travelers.<\/p>\n

Ultimately it depends on whether the border will completely reopen,\u201d<\/strong> said Angus Chan of UBS Global Research.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen and how Macau\u2019s border with Hong Kong reopens will also have an impact. These are more short-term volatilities. But our base case is that Covid-19 will pass eventually,” Chan continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam\u2019s recent proposal of a \u201ctravel bubble\u201d between Macau and Hong Kong set tumbleweeds in motion on the other side of the Pearl River Delta. The South China Morning Post reports that Lam\u2019s overtures were \u201ccold-shouldered\u201d by her counterpart in Macau, which has begun its bounce-back from a pandemic-induced slump. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":172847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCovid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-06T16:15:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-06T21:24:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/\",\"name\":\"Covid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-06T16:15:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-06T21:24:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Asia Pacific Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/asia-pacific-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Covid-19-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Covid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong","description":"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Covid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong","og_description":"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-05-06T16:15:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-06T21:24:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/","name":"Covid-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-06T16:15:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-06T21:24:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/carrue.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Hong Kong Carrie Lam\u2019s overtures towards Macau have been rebuffed by the COVID-free gambling hub, according to reports. (Image: NBC News)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-free-macau-says-no-to-travel-corridor-with-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Asia Pacific Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/asia-pacific-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Covid-19-Free Macau Says No to Travel Corridor with Hong Kong"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}