Macau recovery ‘more robust’ than expected: G2E Asia panel

Jul 11, 2023 Newsdesk G2E Asia 2023: Macau, Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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The speed of the recovery in the Macau tourism market has been “more robust” than the sector expected, an industry conference panel (pictured) heard on Tuesday, on the first day of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia event in Macau.

After a three-year gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a G2E Asia-branded trade event for the casino industry returned to Macau on Tuesday. It is part of a joint presentation, called “Asian IR Expo + Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2023”.

David Sisk, chief operating officer (COO) for Macau resorts at Macau concessionaire Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, said hotel bookings at the firm’s properties have been “incredibly strong” for the summer period.

“It is the traditional school holidays for China. So, we would typically see a rise in the level of visitation. But it’s been even more robust than we thought,” Mr Sisk told the audience.

A series of concerts promoted by the city’s casino operators had in likelihood contributed to the growth in the number of visitors to Macau, boosting also the city’s gaming revenues, stated the executive.

Melco Resorts started in April a series of entertainment-show residencies at its majority-owned Studio City casino resort. The first resident artist was Hong Kong pop star Joey Yung; with Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok starting last weekend his month-long series of residency shows at that venue.

Also in early April, Studio City opened its indoor water park, as well as new hotel capacity, called Epic Tower.

“We’ve got a lot of different things, a lot of attractions, a lot of entertainment, which is also drawing tremendous visitation, tremendous interest in our market here,” said Mr Sisk.

In terms of hotel bookings, he said, Melco Resorts’ properties were experiencing “mid-90s to high-90s [of percent], and [rooms] are sold out over the weekends”.

He added: “I’m not sure if it’s revenge spending yet, like we saw in other markets as they came back, but the recovery in Macau has been very, very strong.”

That view was shared by Hubert Wang, president and COO of Macau licensee MGM China Holdings Ltd. He said the operators’ efforts to attract more foreign visitors and to diversify the local economy were contributing to speeding up the pace of recovery in the Macau market.

Staff, regional supply

“I think something that has helped Macau to recover so rapidly was the fact that the companies were not supposed to lay off people. So, when business began growing back, we had the people to service them [customers],” stated Mr Wang.

With the market recovering to levels seen before the pandemic, the city’s casino concessionaires are still working on hiring more staff, particularly in the “food, beverage, and hospitality” segments, added the MGM China president.

Mr Sisk also said Melco Resorts was in a hiring mode. “I can’t find enough people at this point … we’re working to try to bring more people in; we’re not trying to actually reduce that labour cost at this point. We need more people,” he added.

Asked about competition from existing and upcoming markets, the panellists suggested there were still “plenty” of opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ed Bowers, president global development at MGM Resorts International, told the panel session “there’s not enough” supply in terms of gaming venues in Asia.

“The problem is that it’s really hard to have a uniform supply and demand situation … but it’s just a question of how countries approach the issue; getting the right policy and figuring out how to be attractive,” stated the executive.

Mr Bowers is also president and chief executive of MGM Resorts Japan LLC, which is set to develop a casino resort at Osaka in Japan. The venture, described as a US$10-billion project, is scheduled to open at the end of the decade.

Chen Si, COO for Inspire Entertainment Resort, suggested that “every major jurisdiction has its own dynamics [of] supply”.

“I think for us, outside [of Macau], the common denominator is China,” he added. “Obviously, whether there’s enough [supply] or not depends on China’s policies, whether we get that fair share of Chinese tourists.”

Inspire Entertainment Resort is a complex with foreigner-only casino being developed by the U.S.-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority at Incheon, South Korea. The property is due to launch some non-gaming facilities in the fourth quarter this year, followed by the casino early next year.

“I think we’ve scratched the surface in Southeast Asia” in terms of supply of gaming venues, stated Mr Chen. “There’s certainly a lot of opportunity… potentially, well beyond what we’ve seen so far. It really depends on the markets themselves, and the governments in terms of how they want to create” a casino resort, he added.

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