Macau government recommends rise of non-gaming attractions

Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, revealed the government stand about the gaming sector. The government suggests to increase in the number of non-gaming attractions offered by the local casino sector. This will diversify the source markets for the city’s tourism industry and make the industry more attractive to mass market.

Spending choices made by mass-market consumers visiting Macau were “far more diversified” and sometimes included trips to neighbourhoods outside either the downtown or Cotai districts—something encouraged by the local authorities to spread the city’s visitor load and tourist cash—compared to the spending habits of “VIP clients”, Mr Leong explained.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), said in May last year she would be pleased if the city’s casino industry could achieve 40 per cent non-gaming revenue as a percentage of sector-wide revenue.

The mass sort accounted for approximately half the city’s overall gaming revenue for the first two months of this year, as compared to only “20 – 30 per cent in the past”, the official said, without specifying a time frame. Such change had brought on a “better” gaming revenue structure, and helps the city to be more “resilient” against economic fluctuations, Mr Leong added.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Macau’s economy to expand by 5.3 per cent this year. In its latest report on the city, the institution said: “The main driver of medium-term growth is tourism, with mass gaming and non-gaming tourism further expanding, but more subdued VIP gaming growth, in line with authorities’ diversification efforts towards more stable sources of growth.”