According to the WiseNews app, since last year, the free snacks and drinks offered by major Macao entertainment venues have attracted many people to visit Macao. Recently, it was reported that gaming companies have raised the threshold for free snacks, allegedly due to the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises caused by the so-called 'zero-dollar tour to Macao' phenomenon. In response, Song Weijie, chairman of the Macao Gaming Association, believes that promoting characteristic snacks is mainly a business strategy rather than a 'roundabout promotion'. He supports the measure and believes that gaming companies should raise the threshold for free snacks rather than cancel them altogether. Simple water and tea will still be available, while some characteristic snacks will require membership or points, which can prevent 'zero-dollar tour to Macao' and help companies control costs. Although this may affect the gaming companies' revenue, it is not expected to be significant, as this policy does not affect zero-betting tourists or non-gaming tourists, who do not bring revenue to gaming companies. As for whether this policy can boost the business of surrounding small and medium-sized enterprises, it may help to some extent, but the effect is not expected to be significant.

Director of the Macao Tourism Bureau, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, believes that gaming companies and small and medium-sized enterprises should have a mutual-benefit, mutually-assisting, and mutually-developing relationship. So far, she has not received any feedback from tourists about this issue, and will continue to monitor new developments. She believes that tourists come to Macao because of its tourist attractions, not just for free snacks. If tourists only come for free snacks, they are not the main target customers that Macao wants to attract. Macao aims to attract tourists for a deep and unforgettable travel experience.

In addition, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes pointed out that the number of visitors to Macao and their consumption data indicate that their touristic and spending intentions continue to rise. As of May this year, there were over 14 million inbound tourists, with an average of over 93,000 visitors per day, representing an increase of approximately 50% compared with the same period in the previous year and recovering to 82.5% of the same period in 2019. Among them, nearly 9.895 million were from mainland China, 81% of the same period in 2019, while 2.981 million were from Hong Kong, 97.1% of the same period in 2019. As for international tourists, there were about 978,000 in the first five months of this year, with an average of over 6,400 visitors per day, an increase of 1.75 times compared with the same period in 2019 and recovering to nearly 67% of the same period in 2019.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said that summer vacation is a traditional peak tourism season. So far, the average hotel occupancy rate during the summer vacation has reached 85%, and it is expected that it will exceed 90% as in previous years. She hopes to welcome more tourists in August and move towards the goal of 33 million visitors per year.