IAG speaks with a visitor, a scholar and a legislator in Macau to discover their thoughts on the city’s transportation systems as a driver of tourism.
The tourism industry in Macau is recovering, with total visitor arrivals having reached 22.7 million for the first 10 months of 2023 combined. But are the city’s transport systems able to keep up?
Miss Liao from Guangzhou city has traveled to Macau three times since the reopening last January and says daily activity in Macau has returned significantly over the past year.
“I feel that Macau has become very bustling, as the stream of visitors is still steady in Macau, and the hotels often hold events,” Miss Liao said, adding that traffic is still a concern. “I don’t know much about the details – Macau is very attractive in many parts but very poor in traffic. The traffic is as bad as when I visited four years ago.
“It is still difficult to take a taxi after entering Macau while it is still crowded on buses. The transport situation is also still as bad as in the past.”
Accessibility and the convenience of transportation have long been seen as a key factor in influencing peoples’ travel motivation. According to recent figures from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), 7.9% of visitors to Macau have said that transportation in Macau should be improved, which is the highest negative rating on this issue in the nine surveys the DSEC has conducted.
Public transport remains a major concern in this regard, with years of criticism over the taxi industry in particular having failed to rectify the issue. As of the second quarter of 2023, there were just 1,622 licensed taxis in Macau, hardly enough to cope with current daily visitor arrivals of 89,000 (as of October).
As a result, the Macau SAR Government recently announced a public tender for 10 taxi licenses to run a total of 500 taxis in the future, with the goal of easing the taxi concerns.
The President of the Travel Industry Council of Macau, Wu Kent Kuong, said that the relationship between tourism and transport is vital, with some notable changes to the travel habits of tourists since the 8 January 2023 reopening.
“The number of tour groups has increased considerably compared with the past,” he explained. “However, visitors mainly prefer independent travel now; there is a change in the mindset of visitors.”
The increase in the number of independent travelers means that more tourists are using local public transport. Wu said the supply and service of taxis has been subpar for some time.
“Previously issued eight-year taxi licenses have been expiring one by one in recent years, but the impact of this went largely unnoticed because of the pandemic,” he said. “When the tourism industry recovered this year, the impact was significant.
“But I believe the situation will be improved next year, since the new taxi licenses are launching.”
However, legislator Lam U Tou isn’t so sure.
“Even though the number of taxi licenses is increasing, the number of taxis is really just returning to the pre-pandemic level, which is far less than needed given the growing demand of tourists,” he observed.
“Macau’s transport and its supporting facilities have always been the most serious shortcoming of the tourism industry.
“Transport in Macau has to be thought out properly so that LRT, buses, taxis and pedestrian systems are all required to be integrated and planned.”
Macau’s long-awaited LRT system was launched in 2019 with the Taipa Line in its initial phase, and although hyped as a game-changer for the city, the average number of passengers LRT has transported daily has not yet reached 10,000. Barra Station and the first sea-crossing section of the LRT opened on 8 December.
Lam said the opening of Barra Station greatly improved the attractiveness of the LRT and believes passenger numbers will increase significantly as a result. However, the LRT is not the only way to improve the current situation of transport in Macau.
“There is no plan for the LRT project to run through the urban area of the Macau Peninsula, which is why the coordination of other modes of transport with it becomes so important, including a cross-district pedestrian system within the Peninsula,” he said.
Lam also believes the government needs to improve and plan for the coordination and connection between buses and the LRT system in Macau, as well as the pedestrian system in urban areas.
In mid-2022, the government announced the General Planning for Traffic and Land Transport in Macau (2021-2030) and conducted a 91-day public consultation. The consultation report outlined an expectation that the density of walkable areas in Macau would exceed 13 square kilometers by 2030, however little has happened to address this since.
The reality is that for any city to become a global center of leisure and tourism, it must ensure the tourism experience is as seamless and uncluttered as possible.
Little wonder, then, that SJM’s Frank McFadden highlighted during a recent industry panel at MGS Summit the lack of a reliable taxi service and the absence of business- class seats on direct Macau flights as key considerations moving forward.
The government in cooperation with academia and industry experts must, McFadden said, “identify all of the elements that make up the ecosystem … to create a harmonious and coordinated activity to create an atmosphere conducive to Macau becoming a [tourism hub] … and this still needs a lot of work.”
