by AFP
Macau thinks about the future, even as tourists and gamblers return
Macau’s streets are packed with Lunar New Year approaching after the sudden lifting of pandemic controls, but it’s far from business as usual as the Chinese casino center grapples with questions about its future. Mainland Chinese tourists filled the winding alleyways to the mainland. “We don’t have enough merchandise for this Lunar New Year, because we didn’t expect it,” said a business owner with the surname Li. Tourists may be back now, but Beijing wants the former Portuguese colony to diversify its casino-based economy. President Xi Jinping has spearheaded a decades-long anti-corruption campaign that debunks money laundering and gambling. Yet quitting gambling – and the huge tax revenues casinos generate – will be a hard habit to break. The city of 700,000 is the only place in China where casinos operate legally and has for years relied on mainland Chinese gamblers as its economic lifeblood. Last year, Macau saw gaming revenues drop to a record low of 42 billion patacas ($5.2 billion) after the government shut most businesses at the height of a coronavirus wave. Concessions for a multi-billion dollar industry that accounts for six times the gaming revenue of Las Vegas until the pandemic hits. for non-game investment. Firms have since committed a total of $14.9 billion for projects including theme parks, convention and exhibition centers, fine dining and performance venues. Former lawmaker Sulu Sou said it was a “step forward” . Macau should set clear demands for diversification, rather than relying on vague slogans like it has for years.” [Macau] “The government will explain these requirements in black and white.” In Macau by operating VIP rooms and giving credits for bets. VIP guests contributed about 15 percent of industry earnings before the pandemic, but much of that will “permanently disappear” due to regulatory concerns, according to Credit Suisse analysts. The multi-year campaign against capital outflow and cross-border gambling has been sustained rather than mitigated,” they wrote earlier this month. An abrupt decision to abandon his signature zero Covid policy. For residents like pharmacist Mariana Soares, the reopening has ended nearly three years of anxiety and economic recession. but it also came with a blow of the whip.” Dance studio owner Kam Pang added that he closed and lost his job after two “mentally exhausting” years. It went up to $25,000 when the government ordered businesses to close. “We couldn’t do business because we were suddenly locked up for half a month.” celebrated the New Year’s Eve in hopes that the economic momentum could be sustained. All of the high-end hotels were full during the festival, and officials said weekend visitor numbers had dropped to about half of pre-pandemic levels. Mass-market gaming revenue should rise 55 percent from pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, according to Credit Suisse analysts. and to 85 percent in 2024 p. “Macau will recover, I just don’t know if it will go back to its glory days,” he said. Pang said he believes Macau is “slowly developing new ways to survive.” “The question is, do people want to come to Macau for other things, not gambling?” hall/jta/dhc
