Macau has announced a full resumption of their Individual Visit Scheme (IVS). There will be no limits to how many Chinese residents can visit the city, as Zhuhai, Guangdong Province and all of Mainland China will be invited to apply for visas on August 12, August 26 and September 23, respectively.

Macau’s Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has said there’s no plans to discuss any limits to the number of visitors China could send to the special administrative region (SAR). “We can see that without visitors Macau is facing great economic problems and a rise in unemployment. We are monitoring the situation and seeing the whole picture,” Ho said.

But analysts are suspicious that recovery won’t come swiftly. “It will be a great help for Macau. It is great news, but it will be a long way to reach the level of the results of 2019 ”, before the pandemic of the new coronavirus, underlined Ben Lee, an analyst at the gaming consultant IGamix.

Lee added that the segment Macau needs to come back the most, VIPs, may struggle as international trade fights to return to pre-2020 levels and Chinese authorities restrict their ability to bring immense wealth to the SAR.