Macau Minister for Social Affairs and Culture Ao Ieong U announced that the Individual Visit Visa (IVS) program will be implemented from August 12. The announcement comes nearly a month after China eased Covid-19-related border restrictions between Macau and neighboring coastal Guangdong province.
Casinos in Macau - known as the world's largest gambling center - have suffered heavy losses since February when the Covid pandemic hit. Because more than 90% of Macau's tourists come from mainland China. Therefore, casino owners all expressed that without a plan to resume visas, Macau's casino industry has little hope of development.
Macau is known as the gambling capital of Asia.
Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong, said the resumption of visas to Zhuhai remains limited. “However, the resumption of IVS and the issuance of group visas is a step in the right direction as China and Macau gradually ease travel between the two jurisdictions.”
