Macau needs all its stakeholders to work together if the city is to achieve its stated goals of increasing the volume of inbound international visitors and promoting economic diversification away from gaming. That is according to casino industry veteran Niall Murray, who now chairs consultancy firm Murray International (Macau) Co Ltd.
“I am a big believer in integrated strategies. You must have all stakeholders working together and that is still not out there,” said Mr Murray.
He added: “That is not happening with the government’s policies right now… That is the biggest organisational thing that must occur.”
His comments were made during an industry conference panel (pictured) on Wednesday, the second day of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia event in Macau.
The panel discussed several of the bottlenecks impacting the development of Macau’s tourism market, from shortage of taxis to government red tape regarding approval of new hiring from overseas. Speakers also addressed the need to increase the overall supply of hotel rooms in Macau, particularly mid-range accommodation.
“We don’t have enough hotel rooms,” stated Mr Murray.
As of May, the total number of available guest rooms in Macau stood at 43,000, according to official data. Mr Murray compared the figure to Hong Kong’s circa 85,000 rooms and Singapore’s 70,000.
“If we want to draw the big [trade] shows, we need more rooms. I am talking in the next few years to build it up to 65,000 rooms, to do the big conventions that are going to make a big difference” in terms of trade visitor numbers, said Mr Murray. He was previously an executive at Macau-based operators Sands China Ltd and SJM Holdings Ltd, as well as a consultant for MGM China Holdings Ltd.
“Our expo business does not really exist because we don’t have the capacity to hold the volumes of people to fill these shows,” the consultant said. “I also believe those rooms need to be at some more affordable rates.”
The role of Hengqin
Fellow panel member Davis Fong Ka Chio, director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macau, said the ongoing integration between Macau and Hengqin island could help solve the city’s hotel room shortage problem.
Hengqin is a piece of mainland China territory next door to Macau. For several years now, some Macau casino operators have pledged development of non-gaming projects in Hengqin.
Mr Fong mentioned plans to allow mainland Chinese tourists to commute freely between Macau and Hengqin, without a need for a fresh permit every time they entered Macau coming from Hengqin. According to the scholar, such plan would only apply to tourists making use of mainland China’s Individual Visit Scheme to enter Macau.
“If it happens, some [casino] operators may start to launch their hotel buildings” in Hengqin, Mr Fong said. “That will enlarge the total area of Cotai to Hengqin. It will help the operators increase their overall hotel room capacity.”
Mr Fong said facilitating tourist mobility between Macau and neighbouring Hengqin could also lead gaming operators to “consider building some non-gaming facilities in Hengqin” to “create a synergy effect” between their properties in the two places.
Consultant Mr Murray highlighted the importance to Macau of the ongoing process to liberalise the city’s air transport market. “The reason why that is important is the arrivals by air in general spend 4.5 times more than a regular visitor.”
He suggested it would be beneficial to attract international airlines to Macau as part of the air transport liberalisation process. While a mainland Chinese air company could rapidly help boost visitor volumes in the short term, international air carriers would be essential for getting more visitors from Southeast Asia and further afield, he stated.
In full-year 2019, prior to the pandemic, less than 10 percent of the overall visitors to Macau – i.e., 3.8 million out of total of 39.4 million – came by air.
