What started out as a promising year for Macau's tourism industry has turned out to be a major setback for the special administrative region, as visitors are put off by the rapidly spreading coronavirus epidemic that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Total visitor numbers to Macau over the 4 days of the Lunar New Year sank 69 percent year on year to 194,521. Macau's tourism numbers are closely associated with mass gaming revenue. Watch more in iWant or TFC.tv Even though tourists to the city were up strongly in early January, Macau authorities had expected a 6 percent decline year on year during the week long Lunar New Year holiday, said Andrew Lee, equity analyst at Jefferies.
The investment bank added the gaming sector was likely to remain under pressure until the virus outbreak was brought under control.
The deadly animal virus epidemic spreading globally may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, according to an Israeli biological warfare expert. local Wuhan tele report fr 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research lab