MACAU - set to surpass Hong Kong as tourist destination

eTN, Jan 10, 2008

Hong Kong - The number of visitors to Macau jumped almost 23 percent last year, putting the fast-growing gambling haven on track to surpass neighboring Hong Kong.
The tiny, former Portuguese-ruled enclave of about half a million people registered more than 27 million arrivals in 2007, up 22.7 percent from the previous year, according to government statistics.
Hong Kong registered more than 28 million visitor arrivals, an increase of more than 10 percent on 2006 and a record. If growth rates are maintained, Macau will take the lead this year.

>>Full article

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau Meet For Tourism Cooperation

Chinahospitalitynews.com, December 5, 2007

The tourism authorities from the three places agreed in the meeting to set up a rotation of chairmanship system under the Guangdong - Hong Kong – Macau Tourism marketing cooperation framework, with the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau assuming chairmanship in 2008, while Hong Kong Tourism Board and Macau Government Tourist Office will be the chairman for 2009 and 2010, respectively.
In addition, the three places have reached consensus to strengthen promotion in overseas markets, in particular, to develop more multi-destination itineraries of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau for the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets.

>>Full article

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Two SARs plan closer cooperation on tourism

thestandard.com.hk, October 23, 2007

Hong Kong and Macau have agreed to negotiate with the mainland government on combining into one the current separate visas for mainland tourists visiting the two cities.
The aim is for mainland tourists, under the Individual Visit Scheme, to travel to both places in one trip, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman James Tien Pei-chun who revealed the plan yesterday.
Hong Kong and Macau are not competitors but partners in tourism promotion, Tien said after meeting with Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah and Macau tourism officials in the neighboring SAR.
He said increasingly severe international competition has driven them to embrace their partnership.

>>Full article

MACAU - Stakes are high for new casino, hotel in Asia

Delawareonline.com, September 23, 2007

The $2.4 billion Venetian Macau Resort Hotel is an ambitious venture, remarkable both for its massive size and for its location on the once-empty Cotai Strip. The Venetian, which opened on August 28, is the biggest hotel in Asia and the second biggest building in the world. It has the world's largest gaming floor, a 15,000-seat arena, 30 upscale restaurants plus a giant food court, 350 retail shops, 3,000 all-suite rooms and 1.2 million square feet of convention space, to say nothing of its signature canals, complete with gondolas and boatmen.
And the Venetian is only the beginning of the $10 to $12 billion Cotai Strip project, which will eventually feature 14 hotels, 20,000 guest rooms, hundreds of restaurants and three million square feet of retail space, along with the card tables, slot machines, roulette wheels and other games of chance for which Macau is famous. "We are going to create a mini Las Vegas out of the Cotai Strip," said Sheldon G. Adelson, one of the world's richest businessmen with a net worth of at least US$ 15 billion and the owner and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, which owns both the Venetian and the Cotai Strip as well as the profitable Sands Macao casino in downtown Macau.

>>Full article

MACAO - threatens Hong Kong for popularity

China Daily, 2007-10-01

Macao is expected to catch up with Hong Kong in the near future in terms of mainland tourist traffic, an expert said.
The estimation is based on the increasing trend of Macao's growing shares in the mainland tourist market and Macao's enriching tourism facilities.
The number of mainland tourists bound for Macao has been rising since 1999, causing annual growth of over 30 percent between 1999 and 2004, said Dai Bin, a professor at Beijing International Studies University, in a recent interview.
Although the growth rate has slowed a little in the past two years, it still beat the comparative rate for Hong Kong last year, when Macao registered 14.6 percent growth compared to Hong Kong's 8.4 percent.

>>Full article

MACAU - Plans Future Tourism Campaigns

chinahospitalitynews.com, June 26, 2007

Director of Macau Government Tourist Office João Manuel Costa Antunes has presented the tourism development of Macau and outlined future marketing strategies to guests and MGTO's representatives from 16 countries and regions.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Macau Government Tourist Office Annual Marketing Meeting, Antunes pointed out that Macau's tourism industry has entered a new phase of growth and is moving towards diversification. During the first five months of this year, visitor arrivals exceeded 10 million, registering an increase of 21.45% compared with the same period of 2006. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to be the three largest visitor generating markets, with growths of 19.44%, 23.21% and 1.93% respectively.

>>Full article

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Mega plan to fill mega space

TTGasia.com, Jun 15-21, 2007

THIS summer, the 3,000-suite The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel on the 80.8-hectare Cotai Strip will not only rewrite the history of the enclave, but of the region when it opens as Asia’s first largest fully-integrated resort. Agents will get an idea of what that phrase really means when it opens; be it in terms of number of rooms, size of meeting space, entertainment areas, spa facilities or retail outlets, The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel will have the biggest of each, all under one roof.
The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel will recruit 11,000 staff to man its 3,000 rooms, 20 restaurants and the 100,000m2 convention centre.

Construction for Marina Bay Sands in Singapore enters its fourth month.

>>Full article

MACAU - predicted to resemble “Vegas on steroids” in 10 years

eTN Asia, 4-1-2007

After receiving its record-breaking 20 millionth visitor in December last year, Macau has set its sights on bigger achievements.
The head of the Macau government, Edmund Ho, has termed 2007 as “the year of the progressive integration in the territory of the tourism. leisure, conventions and exhibitions industries.”
Ho also said that the integration of these industries, “is the first sign of the conversion of the predominant economic sector contributing to the expansion of the consumer market and the revitalization of some traditional areas of activity and the emergence of new opportunities.”
“The tourism sector, as part of the cultural industry with intrinsic competitive advantages, will have greater growth, and so we believe that this year is crucial for the appropriate diversification of our economy,” Ho said.
In the year 2000 and 2001, Macau’s visitor arrivals experienced breakthroughs of 9 million and 10 million respectively. Seven years after the establishment of the Macau SAR, the number doubled to 20 million.

>>Full article

MACAU - to receive more than 20 Million Visitor Arrivals in 2006

Search ASIA Travel Tips .comWednesday, 6 December 2006

In the year 2000 and 2001, Macau’s visitor arrivals experienced breakthroughs of 9 million and 10 million respectively. Seven years after the establishment of the Macau SAR, the number doubled to 20 million.

In the first ten months of 2006, visitor arrivals exceeded 17 million, an increase of 15.85% compared to the same period last year. The top ten tourism market sources of Macau (in accordance with volume) are Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, the United States, Singapore and Thailand. Mainland China, the largest source market, occupies nearly 54% of total visitor arrivals; among which, half of the 9.7 million visitors are comprised of individual travelers. On the other hand, the increment of the other markets was also satisfactory.

Director João Manuel Costa Antunes of MGTO said, “It is not easy for Macau, a tiny enclave with an area of only 28.2 sq. kilometers and a population slightly over 500 thousand to receive 20 million visitors a year. The outstanding result is fruitful of the great support of the Central Government, our Macau SAR leaders as well as the hard work both the travel and tourism industry and the public.”

>>Full article

AVIATION - Viva Macau launches Super Low Fares Promotion to Maldives, Phuket and Jakarta

ASIATravelTips .com, 1 December 2006

Viva Macau, the new international low-cost Macau-based airline, has launched its first flight schedule with fares as low as HK$88 to top destinations.

The airline is selling one-way tickets to its short-haul destinations Phuket, Thailand and Jakarta, Indonesia for HK$88; while fares to long-haul route Maldives cost only HK$888.

“Viva Macau is set to fly in December in a bid to bring residents of Macau, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to our exciting destinations at great value for money,” said Andrew Pyne the airline’s chief executive. “With this, we also bring quick and efficient access to the spirit of Macau, Asia’s vibrant entertainment capital.

”Viva Macau will fly to the Maldives twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays beginning December 21, 2006. Tickets on this special introductory fare are valid for travel until January 31, 2007.

>>Full article

DEVELOPMENTS - Illicit and State-Sanctioned Gambling Explode Across East Asia

worldpoliticswatch.com, 13 Nov 2006

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Gambling is illegal in China, but Macau, the special administrative enclave on the coast of Guangdong province, is this year expected to outstrip the United States' Las Vegas Strip with casino revenue turnover of about $7 billion.

The explosive growth of casino gambling in the tiny former Portuguese colony is yet another staggering statistic that illustrates the story of China's breakneck development.

Macau has been transformed in a few short years from a relatively sleepy, rather quaint oddity on the South China Sea into a brash waterfront of ugly, modern casino "resorts" that smother the old colonial architecture so carefully restored by Portugal before the handover to China in 1999.

By the end of this year, Macau is expected to have attracted almost 20 million "tourists," an official Chinese euphemism for gamblers. The enclave was swamped with 18.7 million last year, most all of them from across the Guangdong border.

But Macau's transformation is merely the biggest example of a trend across East Asia, where the barely suppressed gambling desires of the region are being increasingly met by a combination of illegal and legal casinos

>>Full article

MACAU - Has Macau toppled Las Vegas as the world’s top gambling destination?

eTN Asia, 27-10-2006

Macau appears to have overtaken the famous Las Vegas Strip as the world's top gambling destination.In a major disclosure, it is being acknowledged that Macau has become the world’s top gambling destination. The latest earnings figures from the southern Chinese territory showed it had probably topped Las Vegas.
Macau is set to earn $6.8bn (£3.6bn) in casino revenues in 2006 compared with Las Vegas' $6.6bn, say leisure industry consultants Globalysis.

According to AFP, by the estimates of leading Vegas-based leisure industry consultancy Globalysis, “Macau is just ahead of the cluster of casinos on Nevada’s most famous boulevard.”

“Yep, the recent numbers look like our estimate for 2006 will come in line -- currently, the monthly run rate for Las Vegas would put it at an annualised revenue rate of 6.6 billion dollars, approximately,” Globalysis’ partner Jonathin Galaviz reportedly said. “At Macau’s current month run rate, it now exceeds that of the Las Vegas strip by about 20 million dollars, so it looks.”

“Gambling earnings have boomed in Macau since 2001 when the government ended tycoon Stanley Ho’s 40-year monopoly on casinos in the city and allowed foreign operators to move in. The result has been a sudden rush of up to 25 billion dollars of mostly American cash into the once-moribund century-old local industry. Growth has been fuelled by a similarly explosive rise in tourism from China, following the relaxation of travel restrictions from the mainland in the wake of the former Portuguese enclave's reversion to Chinese rule in 1999,” the report added.

>>Full article

MARKETS - PATA's Top Five Winners for First Quarter 2006

BANGKOK Pata.org, October 18, 2006

Travel and tourism arrivals across the Asia Pacific region expanded 4.5% in the first quarter of 2006 compared to first quarter 2005, according to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)’s comprehensive and comparative listing of Asia Pacific destination performance.

That translates into nearly 3.5 million more arrivals for Asia Pacific destinations, year-on-year. PATA’s ‘First Quarter 2006 Quarterly Statistical Report’ (‘QSR’) shows which Asia Pacific destinations attracted the most increases in international visitor arrivals and from which source markets.

The top five origin-destination % growth performances for first quarter 2006 compared to first quarter 2005, (where passenger traffic was 25,000 or more) were:- 1) Russian Federation to Thailand (+138.2%) 2) China (PRC) to Thailand (+131.8%) 3) Italy to the Maldives (+126.9%) 4) Korea (ROK) to Thailand (+89.7%) 5) China (PRC) to Philippines (+87.1%) “Thailand clearly bounced back from the post- tsunami declines it suffered in the first three months of 2005,” said PATA Director-Strategic Intelligence Centre Mr John Koldowski.

In purely % growth terms, irrespective of volume, top five origin-destination growth performances for first quarter 2006 compared to first quarter 2005, were:- 1) Sweden to Bhutan (+200.0%) 2) Indonesia to Chinese Taipei (+145.0%) 3) Brunei to Cambodia (+143.6) 4) Russian Federation to Thailand (+138.2%) 5) Malaysia to Tahiti (+136.4%)

The top five origin-destination pairs with the greatest volume gains in first quarter 2006 over first quarter 2005 were:- 1) Hong Kong SAR to China (PRC) (+680,681) 2) China (PRC) to Hong Kong SAR (+553,052) 3) China (PRC) to Macau SAR (+492,748) 4) Hong Kong SAR to Macau SAR (+237,802) 5) Canada to USA (+150,232)

PATA’s ‘First Quarter 2006 Quarterly Statistical Report’ (‘QSR’), which was released last week, can be purchased at www.pata.org/catalogue. PATA members are eligible for discounts.

AVIATION - Viva Macau plans low-cost air service to central VN

Vietnam net bridge.com, 13/10/2006

VietNamNet Bridge – VivaMacau Limited intends to launch low-cost direct air service between Macau and central Vietnam in the first quarter of next year, according to a memorandum of understanding signed with Furama Da Nang Resort and Spa. Huynh Tan Vinh, deputy general manager of Furama Da Nang, signed the MOU with the budget airline at the resort on Wednesday during the visit to Da Nang City by a delegation of officials and business people from China's Macau Special Administrative Region. Under the MOU, the resort will cooperate with Viva Macau for accommodation and aviation services when the company flies to the central coast city in response to the big demand for air travel on the route. Viva Macau's interest proves that Vietnam is emerging as a potential market for budget airlines as Australia's Jetstar Airways looks set to launch three Sydney-HCMC weekly flights from late next month. The low-cost airlines active in Vietnam at the moment include Singapore's Tiger Airways and Air Asia, with the latter having just launching service between Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi a year after Malaysia's airline began its Hanoi-Bangkok service. Also yesterday, the resort inked another MOU with Macau-based travel firm Gray Line Tours Ltd. over their cooperative tourism activities and promotions in both destinations. Vinh said the MOUs with two Macau companies were important to bringing a large number of international travelers to not only Furama Da Nang but also the central coastal city.

>>Full article

MACAU - Game for more

TTGasia, Sep 29 - Oct 5, 2006 / No.1497

MACAU has hit the jackpot in its destination marketing in Singapore, helped along by air access improvements with the advent of low-cost flights.

In 2005, it welcomed 82,298 visitors from Singapore, representing a dizzying growth of 79.9 per cent over 2004. And for the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), this sterling performance continues.

Its Singapore office general manager, Mr Asad Shiraz, said: “In the first seven months of 2006, 61,772 visitors from Singapore arrived in Macau and double-digit growth of 48.5 per cent has been achieved.”

Up until two years ago, any talk of such growth would have been met with scepticism as airline services by Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Air Macau were withdrawn after failing to achieve reasonable returns. Macau’s destination marketing was infrequent and less visible compared to popular destinations such as Australia, Malaysia and India.

The entry of Tiger Airways on the Singapore-Macau route in March 2005, initially with a thrice-weekly service which has since grown to a daily service, was timed with visibly increased promotional activities by the MGTO in Singapore. Travel agents were beginning to offer attractively priced packages aimed at the heartlanders living in the housing estates and Chinatown.

Macau has confidently begun to stride forward as a standalone destination with possible extensions to Hong Kong and Zhuhai.

Last year, a consortium of five tour operators launched a series of FIT packages featuring stays in three- and four-star hotels.

>>Full article

ASIA PACIFIC - Tourism Breaks Records in 2005

PATA COMMUNICATIONS, September 13, 2006


The ‘PATA Annual Statistical Report 2005 Summary & Extracts’ was launched today in Hong Kong, at a PATA Travel Mart 2006 luncheon workshop on Asia Pacific travel and tourism’s state-of-play. The new report by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC) brings together in one volume the top-line performance statistics for destinations across the Asia Pacific region for the period 2001 to 2005. Covering both inbound and outbound flows, the report provides an overview of annual travel movements to and within the most dynamic region in the world today – Asia Pacific. During the workshop, PATA Director-SIC Mr John Koldowski outlined the major issues and trends affecting international travel flows to and within the region. International visitor arrivals (IVAs) to Asia Pacific in 2005 numbered nearly 330 million trips, representing region-wide year-on-year growth of 7.6%. Since 2001, IVAs have grown at an average annual rate of 6%. “Calendar year 2005 was a very successful year in terms of IVAs into and within Asia Pacific,” said Mr Koldowski. “In fact, by the end of 2005, a number of international inbound volume records were broken.” The following destinations posted “best-ever’ performances” in 2005:- • Chile and Mexico in the Americas; • Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in South Asia; • China (PRC), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Korea (ROK) and Macau SAR in Northeast Asia; • Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam in Southeast Asia; and • Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu in the Pacific.

>>Full article