FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo MONDAY T. 17º/ 25º Air Quality Bad MOP 8.00 3717 “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” N.º 22 Feb 2021 HKD 10.00 SCHOLAR: THE GBA SHOULD HAVE ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN INDICTED TAIWANESE OFFICIALS A SET OF UNIFIED RULES IN A BID TO REFLECTED ON ELECTRICITY AND RECEIVED CASH, GIFTS AND FREE BE MORE COMPETITIVE AND BETTER EXCURSIONS DURING MULTIPLE TRIPS CONNECT WITH THE WORLD WATER CONSUMPTION IN 2020 TO MAINLAND CHINA AND MACAU P4 P5 P3 AP PHOTO COTAI-HENGQIN LINK BY 2025 Thailand’s prime minister survived a no-confidence vote in parliament amid allegations that his The LRT extension line to Hengqin is expected to be government mismanaged the economy, bungled the provision of COVID-19 completed in four years with a budget of MOP3.5 billion vaccines, abused human P2 rights and fostered corruption. Nine other ministers also survived the vote. It marked the second no-confidence test that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government has faced since taking office in July 2019. India A 22-year-old climate activist who is facing sedition charges for her alleged role in the creation of an online document intended to help amplify farmer protests did not get bail after a court said it will reserve its order for later this week. Judge Dharmender Rana said the court will pronounce the bail order on Disha Ravi’s bail plea on Tuesday, extending her judicial custody by two more days. India Anti-India rebels in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed two police officers in an attack in the disputed region’s main city, officials said. Elsewhere in the Himalayan region, three suspected rebels and a policeman were killed in two gun battles. The violence came a day after diplomats from more than 20 countries stationed in India’s capital concluded a two-day visit to the region. AP PHOTO RENATO MARQUES RENATO Afghanistan Three sticky bomb attacks in Kabul killed at least five people and wounded two others, MOP29.8 BILLION a police official said, amid a surge in violence LUNAR NEW YEAR in the war-torn country. Casino tax Kabul police spokesman occupancy Ferdaws Faramarz said two explosions caused by sticky generated in 2020 bombs attached to vehicles rate of 48.3% took place 15 minutes apart fared modestly and a third targeting a police outperforms vehicle exploded about two better than hours later. MGTO’s estimate gov’t’s forecast More on backpage P2 P3 page 2 www.macaudailytimes.com.mo MACAU 澳門 22.02.2021 mon MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER the CNY Golden Week in 2021, CNY down 65.3% from 261,454 in the same period last year. The decline was associated Occupancy rate of 48.3% with the travel advisories issued by China’s municipal governmen- ts advising their residents to avoid outperforms MGTO’s estimate travelling during the CNY period. Overall, the average daily ar- HONEY TSANG rival numbers during the Lunar New Year stood at 12,945, falling ACAU’S occupancy rate short of the Fernandes’ previous Maveraged at around 48.3% forecast of around 16,000 to 20,000 during the Chinese New Year arrivals. (CNY) Golden Week from Fe- AGENCY PHOTO MACAU President of Sands China Ltd, bruary 11 to 17, demonstrating a Wilfred Wong, previously told the contraction of 4.6% points year- mediathat he had expected “a sli- -on-year, the official data released ght delay” in the hotel room peak last Friday showed. booking period for the group’s The latest figures were given newly opened hotel property The by the city’s accommodations, Londoner, after taking into ac- including both hotels and guest count the impact of the travel ad- houses, and compiled by the Ma- visory. cao Government Tourism Office “Some mainland tourists will (MGTO). avoid travelling during the Spring The actual figure of occupancy Festival. But they may set off rate turned out better than MG- trips following the festival, […] TO’s earlier forecast of around 30% we believe the occupancy data — an estimate, which was gauged will come to some highs after the based on the booking data provi- Chinese New Year,” he projected ded by local hotels pre-CNY, and earlier. announced by MGTO Director To some degree, the growing Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes trend of arrivals from the Main- on an annual media brief on Fe- land during the latter half days bruary 10. of the Golden Week bears down In terms of the demarcation of Wong’s forecast. accommodation rating, the city’s The seventh day of the Golden 5-star hotels outshined all other Week holiday on February 17 saw hotel classes, registering an avera- a double-digit growth of 22.8%, ge occupancy rate of 50.6%, down year-over-year in mainland tourist 4.7% points from the CNY Golden It was then followed by 46.1% significant 42.1% year-on-year. pectively. arrivals into Macau. The daily tally Week last year. for 3-star hotels, 27.3% for guest The daily room rate was The daily room rates for 2-star marks the second consecutive Meanwhile, 4-star hotels were houses and 24.6% for 2-star hotels. MOP1,444.8, MOP734.0 and hotels and guest houses showed day of growth — following a 5.3% narrowing the gap, with their oc- The average daily room rate MOP780.0 for the city’s 5-star, the sharpest contraction, down increase on February 16 — and cupancy rate averaged at 49.8%, for hotel establishments in Ma- 4-star and 3-star hotels during the 79.4% and 78.9% year-over-year. the highest annual growth rate in just 0.8% points behind the first- cau stood at around MOP1,175.3 week-long Spring Festival holiday, Overall, the city saw an aggre- Mainland visitor numbers during -place 5-star hotels. during the holiday week, down a down 38.7%, 51.5% and 47.0% res- gate of 90,615 tourist arrivals over the holiday. LRT Hengqin extension expected to be completed in four years ANTHONY LAM is expected to be completed ding with the current one, will be built aboveground in four years. which is actually located at the Lotus Border Che- HE SAR government The consolidation of the at Hengqin, has been in- ckpoint Station. The gover- Tannounced that the idea of building the exten- cubating and discussed for nment did not announce, Light Rapid Transit (LRT) sion came after an extra a while, especially after the however, if they will be extension to Hengqin is ai- stop, the Island Hospital relocation of the border considered within one paid med to be operational in Station, was added to the control building. area or passengers need to four years. It will be about current Taipa Line of the An LRT station, the Lotus exit from one station and 2.2 km in total with 900 me- mass transit system. The Border Checkpoint Station, enter another to get the ters underground, authori- Island Hospital Station, located at the back of the train to Hengqin. ties announced last week. meanwhile, is located abo- Studio City, caters to users Similar to the tunnel Nam Kwong (Group) ve the roundabout diago- at the checkpoint. connecting to the Univer- Company Limited has been nally from the future hos- Starting at the Lotus Bor- sity of Macau, the train will appointed to construct pital. der Checkpoint Station, the go underground at the river the extension. The govern- Although the station has Hengqin Extension Line is a until the Hengqin Border ment’s justification for the been built, it is not yet ope- hybrid structure, consisting Checkpoint. The govern- decision is that the project rational. of flyovers, an underwater ment states that the new is a Zhuhai-Macau collabo- However, the idea of tunnel and two stations. terminal station will be lo- ration. The project is bud- linking the previous Lotus According to the current cated right below the che- geted at MOP3.5 billion and Border Checkpoint Buil- plan, a connected station ckpoint building. www.macaudailytimes.com.mo EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (DIRECTOR)_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LTD PUBLICATION ASSISTANT EDITOR_Lynzy Valles SENIOR WRITER_Honey Tsang CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Leanda Lee, Severo Portela, Sheyla Zandonai ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Anthony Lam, Daniel Beitler, Emilie Tran, OFFICE MANAGER Juliana Cheang [email protected] REACHING OUT! Irene Sam, Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Lao-Phillips, João Palla Martins, Joseph Cheung, Julie ADDRESS Av. da Praia Grande, 599, Edif. Comercial Rodrigues, 12 Floor C, Zhu, Juliet Risdon, Linda Kennedy, Paulo Cordeiro de Sousa, Renato Marques, Richard Whitfield, Viviana Seguí MACAU SAR Telephones: +853 287 160 81/2 Fax: +853 287 160 84 DESIGNERS_Eva Bucho, Miguel Bandeira | ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTORS_JML Property, MdME Lawyers, Advertisement [email protected] +20,000 PokerStars, Ruan Du Toit Bester | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua For subscription and general issues: [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd Like us on facebook.com/mdtimes SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] SEND NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO www.macaudailytimes.com.mo page 3 mon 22.02.2021 澳門 MACAU MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER Gaming tax contracted 73.6% YoY in 2020 HONEY TSANG casinos in Macau for 39% of GGR, Ben Lee, managing part- gaming revenue — which in- ner of IGamiX Management & ACAU’S go- cludes a direct tax of 35% and Consulting, regarded that “it vernment re- other types of taxes for social is probably due to short term ceived around and welfare purposes.