Shares in Macau casino firms fell yesterday after Guangdong province acted again to tighten visa policy for residents travelling to the gaming centre.
Effective this week, non-tour group travellers to Macau under the individual visitation scheme can apply for visas once every two months, against the once-a-month policy that has been in place since Guangdong began easing restrictions in August.
'We did relax the policy a few months ago and Guangdong visitors were able to apply for those [individual visitation scheme visas to Macau] once a month, but from this week, you have to wait,' said a duty officer who answered the information hotline of the Guangdong Public Security Department's division of exit and entry administration.
The officer said the department had effectively retightened the individual visitation scheme policy and prospective travellers to Macau must now wait two months between applications.
Industry watchers said the move was probably a response to fresh mainland concerns about overheating in Macau's casino-led economy.
Casino revenue in the third quarter surged 22 per cent to a record 31.64 billion patacas from a year ago, according to official data and preliminary figures from Portuguese news agency Lusa.
