Visa-free travel to the Philippines for Chinese tourists “should support recovery of Entertainment City” casino resorts in the country’s capital Manila, which in 2025 experienced a downturn in visitor volume from China. But it might take “a few quarters for VIP volumes to recover,” said a Wednesday note from Maybank Securities Inc.
Analyst Raffy Mendoza aired the view in a note with a focus on Bloomberry Resorts Corp, operator of Solaire Resort & Casino in Entertainment City, and of Solaire Resort North in nearby Quezon City.
The Philippines government said on January 16 that Chinese nationals would be allowed to enter and stay in the country without a visa for up to 14 days starting from that date, as part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s effort to promote trade, investment and inbound tourism.
Maybank stated: “In our view, while this is a positive development for land-based casino operators in Entertainment City such as Bloomberry, we expect any meaningful recovery in gaming activity to take several quarters.”
As of the first nine months of 2025, for Solaire Manila, “roughly 30 percent of GGR came from Greater China,” added Mr Mendoza, referring to gross gaming revenue.
The brokerage said that combined GGR across casinos in Entertainment City fell 15 percent year-on-year to PHP99.4 billion (US$1.68 billion currently) in the first three quarters of last year.
That fall “was partly attributed to fewer fly-in VIP punters, evidenced by 50 percent lower VIP GGR at Bloomberry’s Solaire Entertainment City property.”
Mr Mendoza added, referring to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA): “While the DFA’s waiver of visa requirements for Chinese nationals should bode well for Entertainment City casinos, we anticipate that it may take a few quarters for VIP volumes to recover.
“Should a quicker impact be felt from the visa waiver, this may lead to 50 percent higher VIP GGR this year.”
Bloomberry’s “subdued performance” in calendar-year to September 30 came “amid challenges at its Solaire Entertainment City casino, elevated operating expenses from its e-gaming launch, and higher-than-expected depreciation,” said Maybank.
The brokerage suggested that apart from the potential uptick in Solaire Resort & Casino from a recovery in Chinese tourist volume, “recent developments to keep an eye on” included: the ramp-up of Bloomberry’s e-gaming platform “not yet factored “ in Maybank forecasts and the performance of Solaire Resort North this year; the “ongoing sale of its Jeju Island property” in South Korea; and “increased competition in Entertainment City from opening of Westside City casino expected by third-quarter 2026”.
The latter was a reference to a casino project within the Westside City development in Manila. The casino portion had in the summer of last year been referred to as LETX Resort.
The US$1.25-billion casino complex is now being developed through a partnership between Travellers International Hotel Group Inc – the promoter also of the Newport World Resorts casino complex at Newport in Manila – and Philippine-listed Suntrust Resort Holdings Inc.
