Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd recorded a 5-percent improvement in business volume during the week-long Chinese New Year holiday period earlier this month, said the firm’s executive director Angela Leong On Kei (pictured).
“Business was good both in the mass and VIP segments,” Ms Leong told reporters on Sunday, as quoted by public broadcaster TDM. She added that business went up “about 5 percent” during this year’s Chinese New Year holiday, compared to the prior-year holiday period.
Brokerage Daiwa Securities Group Inc suggested in a note last week there was a “strong ramp up” in casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the Macau market beginning on the third day of Chinese New Year (February 10).
“This gives us confidence that an implied ADR [average daily rate] of [above] MOP800 million [US$99.7 million] during this Lunar New Year may be achievable,” said at the time the Daiwa team.
Visitor arrivals to Macau during the week-long holiday period were up by 4.04 percent from a year earlier. Preliminary figures from the city’s Public Security Police show Macau welcomed just over 1.22 million visitors between February 7 and February 14 inclusive.
Occupancy rates at Macau hotels of every category also went up during the Chinese New Year Golden Week holiday, according to official data.
On Sunday, Ms Leong also confirmed that SJM Holdings is negotiating with the Macau government the possibility of reducing the number of shuttle bus routes it currently operates. Negotiations are still ongoing but the firm has already reduced the frequency of some routes, she added.
Members of Macau’s Traffic Affairs Consultative Committee have recently urged the government to cut the number of casino shuttle bus routes and their frequency.
