Macau plans to offer more than just fancy casinos
Print Edition
Macau is an international attraction and one of the world’s largest gambling destinations.
According to Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, about 31.5 million people visited Macau last year and 21 million were from the Chinese mainland, up 14.1 percent from 2013.
However, Macau’s tourism industry has been undergoing a change. Due to the ongoing anti-graft campaign on the Chinese mainland, the revenue from the gaming sector has gradually decreased. February revenue fell to 19.54 billion patacas (US$2.45 billion), compared with 38.01 billion patacas for the same period last year, according to figures from AFP.
The challenge is to diversify and find other sources of revenue aside from the casinos.
Some enterprises are now emphasizing non-gaming facilities and starting to construct other facilities so that gambling is only one part of the Macau experience.
A wave of large-scale resorts will open in the middle of this year, along with the second phase of Galaxy Macau.
Galaxy Macau promises some of the most exciting entertainment, leisure, retail and MICE facilities on offer in Asia. Galaxy Entertainment Group stressed that 90 percent of their capital invested in the project is on non-gaming facilities such as theaters, arenas, swimming pools, restaurants and hotels. After phase two opens, Galaxy Macau will boast more than 4,000 rooms, suites and villas across six hotels at a total investment cost of HK$43 billion (US$5.5 billion). More than 200 top international brands and 120 restaurants can be found in Galaxy Macau.
As for the future development of the enclave’s entertainment sector, Galaxy Entertainment Group said all the resorts will be equipped with a large theater or arena in the future, offering various performances from around the world, much like Las Vegas in the United States.
The Chinese central government has approved many measures to assist Macau. There are high-speed trains from other cities to Zhuhai and flights directly to Macau in first, second and third-tier cities. The completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will also boost the tourism industry.
Meanwhile, the Macau government is committed to building a Light Rapid Transit network to improve public transport.
The Macau government is also determined to make the special administrative region a “global center for tourism and recreation,” not just a place for gaming. The government will invest more in tourism planning research, strengthen industrial supervision training, launch more events during festivals and accelerate the development of regional cooperation.
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