It seems that the coronavirus restrictions in Macau have been relaxed and the number of tourists is exploding.

When I watch YouTube videos, I see that Chinese people are flocking to Macau and it seems that the situation has almost recovered to the level before the coronavirus.

Now, I was looking for various travel packages online for my annual summer trip to Macau, but due to the high prices in Macau, the weak yen, and the high price of crude oil in recent years, air tickets and hotels have become very expensive, and to be honest, they don't seem as attractive as they used to be...

A cheap air ticket for the weekend is about 80,000 yen including surcharges, and a mid-range hotel is about 60,000 yen for three nights.

If you include transportation and food costs there, and the round-trip transportation costs from my house to Kansai Airport, it's about 40,000 yen, so the total is 180,000 yen.

Before, it was about 120,000 yen at most, so it's about 1.5 times the price, but since the weak yen has been trending around that level, I guess it's appropriate. However, for me, an ordinary old salaryman, these figures are quite tough.

On the other hand, the won/yen exchange rate in Korea is stable, and this is because the won is also weak in Korea, just like the yen is weak, but it is still relatively cheap to travel to Korea. Still, it's only 20% more expensive than before.

That said, if you're mainly thinking about casinos, Macau is definitely more fun, and I was wondering what to do,

A campaign called "World of Winners" to distribute free tickets started at the end of June.

Three airlines, Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Express, and Hong Kong Airlines, are running separate campaigns,

Hong Kong Express started first on June 26th on a first-come, first-served basis.

On the day, the lines were quite congested, and there were reports of troubles on Twitter, such as being redirected first despite waiting an hour, but luckily I was able to enter the dedicated site early. My first choice was to aim for before the Obon festival in August, but that was already sold out, so I looked for a place in the last week of July and found a four-night stay, one day longer than I had planned, so I was able to get it.

Although it's free, you still have to pay 25,000 yen for airport tax and surcharges, but it's still pretty cheap.

Next is the hotel.

Macau has always had extremely expensive days on Fridays and Saturdays.

There were no vacancies at the Holiday Hotel, the cheap accommodation I used on my last solo trip, and all the cheap accommodations of a similar class seemed to be full.

There were a few cheap apartments for rent, but I rejected them because I didn't understand the system, such as how to get the key.

I checked the total price for a two-night weekend stay at some of the available hotels, and it was:

Venetian 120,000

Lisboa 60,000

Ponte 70,000

Holiday Inn 40,000

Rio 50,000

Sintra 40,000

Parisian 110,000

Casa Real 40,000

Studio City 120,000

Sands 110,000

Altea 130,000

Masters 34,000

Legend Palace 80,000

Glaris 110,000

Wynn 260,000

Masters is the cheapest of these, but it's still expensive for that level.

I thought about staying at the luxurious Zhuhai hotel that "Kurukuru-san" recommended, but

I rejected the idea because it seems that you need a negative COVID-19 certificate once you leave China, which is a huge hassle.

For now, I'll reserve Lisboa because it allows cancellations up until the last minute on the booking site.

Since I've been away for three years,

I'll watch videos by Song Tsun, Tsubaki, and Macao Channel on YouTube to refresh my memory of Macau.

I definitely want to go to the Grand Lisboa Palace, the last work of Stanley Ho and Karl Lagerfeld.