Macau was “switched” yesterday, exempting mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan tourists from showing nucleic acid test certificates. Many mainland tourists will immediately go to Macau to buy New Year’s goods, and many Hong Kong people will immediately “cross the sea” to relax. People in other places are flocking, and souvenir shops and restaurants are running non-stop. Among them, the person in charge of a souvenir shop estimates that the business will reach 50% to 60% before the epidemic, and threatens to step up stocking to welcome more customers. The “Parallel Cargo Street” around the border gate has reproduced the pre-pandemic situation where parallel importers “blocked the street” to unpack their goods.
Macau media reported that as of 5:00 noon yesterday, the number of inbound and outbound tourists on the first day of opening and closing in Macau was 31,956 and 20,263 respectively. The flow of people entering and exiting the border gate has increased sharply, and a large number of suspected parallel importers have filled the sidewalks in the parallel street, queuing up to buy goods. Some of them bought a whole box of loquat paste at the pharmacy and distributed the goods directly outside the pharmacy (Figure 1).
The daytime ferry between Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan and Taipa resumed on the same day. The first boat departed at 7:30 am yesterday, carrying 130 passengers to Taipa. Some tourists from Hong Kong said frankly that they did not go to Macau in three years, and their first stop was to gamble in Lisboa; some tourists said that they missed the food of Macau and made a special trip back and forth to taste the food in Macau today. The first ferry from Taipa to Hong Kong departed at 9 am yesterday, with regarding 50 people on board.
The tourist areas in Macau are full of people, and there is an endless stream of customers from large shopping malls and sporting goods stores. Some mainland tourists said that they hadn’t been to Macau for three years, so they came here with their families to see the changes in the small town, and they bought New Year’s goods, which cost them thousands of dollars. There are long queues at many restaurants on Guanye Street. Among them, the person in charge of a pork chop bun shop said that business soared to 60% to 70% before the epidemic. Due to the loss of out-of-town employees, some chain souvenir shops have insufficient manpower to cope with the huge passenger flow. They also estimate that they need to buy 50% more raw materials than usual to stock up.
No tourists snatching drugs: Mainland supply returns to normal
In addition, some mainland tourists buy cough medicines at pharmacies, and some mainland tourists say that it is unnecessary to buy painkillers and fever-reducing medicines in Macau, because the supply of related medicines in the mainland has returned to normal following the peak of the epidemic has passed. Macau has restricted departing passengers since yesterday, and they can only bring a maximum of 5 boxes or bottles of analgesic and fever-reducing medicines, compound cold medicines, phlegm and cough medicines, and a maximum of 5 boxes of new crown antigen rapid test kits. Macau reported 77 new confirmed cases the day before yesterday, and 5 more patients died.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/China/Parallel Importers Reappear-Souvenir Stores Do Not Stop Hands-Macau’s Opening and Opening Day Ding Cai Prosperous/356204?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral
