MACAU’S strained tourism capacity could improve through measures that influence when visitors travel to Macau, where they go and what they do after arrival, recommends a study conducted by the Institute for Tourism Studies’ Tourism Research Centre.
Such measures, the study explained, would help ease the heavy visitor burden on particular days. It also showed that apart from major visitor attractions and restaurants plagued by capacity issues during certain periods of the year, the physical capacity of transportation, particularly taxis and buses, remains overburdened.
Estoril Tours Travel Agency, director of sales, Johnny Choi said the capacity challenge occurs during key festivals or holiday periods only.
“However, though various measures like themed walking tour routes have been launched to divert tourist traffic from key attractions, it’s hard to ask clients to give up prominent sightseeing spots to move to less crowded ones,” he said.
“This is particularly true for first-timers to Macau who prioritise on iconic tourism spots. Unlike destinations like Hong Kong, Macau is too small to realistically provide traffic diversion.”
On a positive note, the study also found Macau’s estimated optimum visitor carrying capacity per day was between 87,573 and 94,956 in 2013, and this improved to between 89,374 and 92,325 last year.
