Business group urges new voucher push as post-holiday demand cools

 mar26

A local business group is urging the government to launch a new round of consumer vouchers in the coming weeks to shore up domestic demand during the tourism off-season, proposing weekend voucher draws and weekday redemption to reverse the current arrangement.

Ng Wah Wai, executive president of the Industry and Commerce Association of Macau, said he expects visitor arrivals to remain relatively subdued in March and April following the Lunar New Year peak last month.

Previous rounds of the government’s consumption initiatives have provided a notable lift to local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), particularly by boosting spending in the retail and dining sectors, Ng told Macau Daily News on Tuesday.

“If the government can roll out new consumption-stimulating measures during the tourism off-season, it would help lift the community economy and ease operating pressures on local SMEs,” he said. “It can inject fresh momentum into the local market.”

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, Macau has rolled out direct subsidies and voucher programmes for residents on an irregular basis to support local consumption.

Weekday redemption

In the most recent round, which ran from September to November, the government distributed MOP462 million (US$57.7 million) in e-vouchers, with MOP408 million redeemed, generating about MOP1.645 billion in spending across some 20,000 participating merchants. Under the scheme, residents could win vouchers worth MOP10 to MOP200 after spending at least MOP50 at participating merchants on weekdays, with vouchers redeemable on weekends.

Ng also said the next round of vouchers should flip the timing: residents would qualify for voucher draws through weekend spending, while redemptions would take place on weekdays. The change, he said, could help steer spending toward quieter weekdays.

He also called on the government to maintain targeted support for elderly residents and people with disabilities. In the most recent round of vouchers, the authorities issued a separate MOP500 subsidy to these eligible groups for spending at local shops, helping drive about MOP117 million in consumption between September and November.

Government data showed Macau retail sales fell 3.2 percent from a year earlier to MOP69.58 billion last year, despite a 4.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

Benefitting more sectors

Matthew Ting Chi Liu, a marketing professor at the University of Macau, echoed Ng’s call for another round of vouchers and similar rule changes.

Spending in the previous campaigns was concentrated at supermarkets, pharmacies and food-and-beverage outlets, while more residents continued to travel to nearby mainland Chinese cities on weekends to shop, diluting local spending power, he told Macau Daily News.

“First, limiting voucher draws to weekends would encourage consumers to stay in Macau to spend,” the academic said. “Even if someone plans to head to the mainland on the weekend, they may choose to spend in Macau before leaving or after returning.”

Allowing voucher redemption on weekdays — effectively expanding the redemption window from two days to five — would also give residents more flexibility and help spread spending beyond a handful of sectors, he added.

https://macaubusiness.com/business-group-urges-new-voucher-push-as-post-holiday-demand-cools/