Chinese New Year Special Lucky money
With residents and visitors spending heavily to celebrate the biggest festival of the lunar calendar, it is business that most enjoys Chinese New Year
BY ALEXANDRA LAGES T
he biggest celebration of the year is also the best time to do business. Chinese New Year, or
Spring Festival holidays are a pro t booster for retailers. The tourism and gaming industries also see their takings soar, owing to a peak in the number of visitors from the mainland, who have seven consecutive days off work – one of two Golden Weeks each year, the other spanning October 1 and celebrating National Day. In Macau, the rst three days
of Chinese New Year are statutory holidays. Christina Chan plans to spend
around MOP2,000 (US$250) on shopping for this year’s holidays, MOP500 more than last year. The teacher says the increase in spending is due to in ation. “Normally, I buy some new clothes,
as it is a custom at Chinese New Year, and I choose something red, in particular. Besides, I will buy gifts for my parents, my in-laws and for some other senior members of the family. Usually they are gift sets sold in the supermarket,” she says. Terry Ng is unsure how much he
will spend on New Year items this year. “I have to shop and check the prices,” the engineer says. But Mr Ng and his wife are expecting to spend about MOP6,000 on food, lai sis (red packets with cash inside offered as gift) and presents. Katie Leung’s budget is much
higher. The administrative of ce secretary will spend MOP10,000, of which MOP2,000 is for lai sis and the rest for food and new clothes. Despite the surge in customers,
supermarket chain Seng Cheong will close one of its three stores during the holidays. “We will close the Ocean Gardens one because it is more residential-targeted and keep the other two, located on main roads, open,” says
owner Sunny Liu. The chain’s business usually jumps
by 50 percent during the Chinese New Year holidays. “People buy gifts and food like pork, ham, chicken, sh and beef because they like to gather with the family and have meals together,” he says. However, this year Mr Liu is expecting the jump in business to be a little lower because of increased competition.
Looking good The increase in consumption, plus the tide of mainland tourists, turns the holidays into a shopping spree. “Chinese New Year is a very important period for retail sales,” says a spokesperson for the Venetian Macao’s retail division. “The trend for the Chinese New Year period is strong, especially in the two weeks leading up to this period. More recently, Macau has seen a stronger growth in retail sales, as more mainland Chinese travel during this period.” Cosmetics and perfumes, jewellery
and watches, and bags and fashion accessories are the best sellers in the Venetian’s shopping mall during the holidays. Hong Kong’s A.S. Watson Group is
expecting to “achieve satisfactory sales” in Macau during the holidays, says Tiffany Yeung, a public relations of cer for the group. However, she does not give any estimates. “Chinese New Year is one of
the most important festive times for Chinese people and also a peak season for retail,” she says. “With the custom of gift-giving to families and friends, gift items such as chocolates, cookies, nuts, noodles, mushrooms, abalone, health supplements, etcetera are the most popular products at this time of the year.” A.S. Watson operates several
businesses in Macau. It is the owner of
ParknShop supermarkets, the Watsons health and beauty retail chain, and electrical appliance retailer Fortress.
Rising rates The hotel industry’s revenues also rise during the holidays because of higher occupancy rates and much higher room rates. “On regular days, a four-star hotel room rate is around MOP800 but at Chinese New Year it can go up to MOP4,000,” says Lawrence Cheng, an account manager at travel agency EGL Tours Co. Ltd. Data from the Macau Government
Tourist Of ce shows that the average room rate at hotels with three or more stars was MOP1,879 during Chinese New Year last year, 14.4 percent more than a year before. Even though rooms cost more, the daily average number of occupied rooms rose by 1.1 percent to almost 17,000. The director of the International
Tourism Research Centre at the Institute for Tourism Studies, Leonardo Dioko, expects occupancy levels to be even higher this year. “Though there have been increases
in hotel rooms, with the opening of several new hotel properties in 2011, that growth rate is far less than the growth in overnight-staying visitors. Dampening the estimate is, of course, competition and the option for visitors to cross over the border and spend the night there rather than in Macau because of higher hotel room rates,” Mr Dioko says. It is also the time most revellers
will try their luck, and the best place to do that is in a casino. “It is an important week for the
gaming industry, not only in Macau but also around the world,” says Desmond Lam Chee Shiong, an academic at the University of Macau, who researches the psychology of gambling. “Many Chinese make use of this special
JANUARY 2012
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