Casino operators in Macao saw share prices jump on Monday after the local government announced the Chinese mainland would gradually resume group tours to the city.

The Chinese special administrative region, which is the only place in the country where casinos are legal, expects to see about 40,000 travelers per day by the end of October or by early November this year after two resumption measures are implemented, according to an official press conference held on Saturday.

Ho Iat Seng, the chief executive of Macao, said at the press conference that the central government would support the resumption of electronic visa issuance under the facilitated individual travel scheme; and the gradual resumption of group tours to Macao. The two measures will initially be applicable to mainland residents from the "four provinces and one city": first to people in Guangdong Province, and then to those in Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Fujian Province, and Shanghai.

Macao's casino operators saw their stocks rise on Monday: Sands China rose 15.65 percent, Wynn Macau climbed 11.06 percent, Galaxy Entertainment advanced 7.18 percent while SJM rose 11.57 percent and MGM China jumped 4.65 percent.

Having more mainland tourists visit Macao is vital to the city at the moment, said Ho.

As resumption of such inbound travel to the city had been approved, it was equally imperative to maintain good work in terms of epidemic control and prevention effort, in order to maintain consistency with anti-epidemic policies in place on the mainland, he said.