Macau Grand Prix to Attract Large Number of Visitors, Over 90% Hotel Occupancy Predicted
Next month, the Macau Grand Prix celebrates its 70th anniversary, and officials in the Chinese casino enclave are hoping for a large turnout during the two weeks of racing.
This annual street circuit event brings together motorsports fans by featuring car and motorcycle races. It's also one of just two national grand prix events unrelated to Formula One.
The main highlight of the 2023 Macau Grand Prix is scheduled from November 11 to 19, culminating in the 70th Anniversary Macau Grand Prix FIA Formula 3 Championship.
The casinos in Macau benefit from this motorsports festival, as numerous spectators from around the world visit the enclave for the back-to-back weekends. The casinos on the Macau peninsula and the Cotai Strip offer a combined total of almost 50,000 hotel rooms.
Rising Room Prices
During a ceremony anticipating the 70th-anniversary hosting of the Macau government's Grand Prix, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), expressed optimism for the event. She predicts that almost all hotel rooms will be occupied throughout both weekends.
Currently, the MGTO lacks information on the hotel's occupancy rate during the Grand Prix. However, she anticipates a higher number of visitors due to the two-weekend racing event. "It's expected that the hotel occupancy rate in Macau will reach 90% during the Grand Prix," she said, according to Inside Asian Gaming.
Checking the availability of rooms reveals a steady increase in prices. A two-night stay at Sands Macau from November 17 to 19 costs an average of $559 a night. That same Friday to Sunday stay at City of Dreams comes with a price of $636, while a stay at Melco Resorts' Morpheus is $872.
In contrast, a standard Friday to Sunday stay in December runs $261 at Sands, $434 at City of Dreams, and $783 at Morpheus.
The Macau Grand Prix has an intriguing history. Originally conceived as a citywide treasure hunt, organizers quickly decided that an automobile race would be more exciting. The event began in 1954 and has expanded since, with the first F3 Macau Grand Prix happening in 1983. Macau has remained unchanged in its refusal to alter the course to comply with regulations that could enable it to host F1, unlike Las Vegas, which is currently undergoing modifications for the upcoming Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 19, which coincides with the Macau Grand Prix.
Recovery in Progress
Macau's tourism and gaming industries are recovering post-COVID-19. President Xi Jinping's "zero-COVID" policy led to a significantly delayed recovery in China.
In August, Macau casinos reported a monthly win of $2.06 billion – the best month for the industry since January 2020. From January through September, the combined Macau casinos had generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of MOP128.9 billion (US$16 billion), which is more than 300% higher compared to the same period in 2022 when travel was still restricted and lockdowns were common in response to the emergence of new coronavirus clusters.
Although the gaming industry is showing improvement, Macau's commercial gaming market has a long way to go to reach its pre-pandemic level in 2019, when the six casino operators had won over $27 billion.
Read also:
- BVB trails 1-0 against Paris, with Füllkrug leading them towards the final.
- Munich Drama: Late Real Penalty Leaves Bayern Shocked
- Lars is capable of leading BVB, according to many.
- Subsequent torrential rainfall leads to 48 fatalities due to partial highway collapse in China.
Source: www.casino.org
