GGRAsia – No sign casino snack topic hits tourism says Macau official

No sign casino snack topic hits tourism says Macau official

Jul 05, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Ricky Hoi Io Meng, deputy director of Macao Government Tourism Office, hinted in Thursday comments that changes to local casinos’ provision of free snacks and drinks on gaming floors “should not have a big impact to the visitors”.

GGRAsia had previously approached the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, for comment on the claims of government pushback against the practice of casino operators distributing free food and drinks to patrons – as mentioned on social media several weeks ago – but had not received a reply. The free food and drink trend appeared anecdotally to have been on the rise this year.

“I don’t have any comment on these kinds of new methods,” said Mr Hoi (pictured in a file photo), in comments to the television news service of local public broadcaster TDM.

But he added: “When compared with the past weekends, we didn’t notice any drop in terms of the number of tourists. So, I would say the way they offer snacks in the casinos, the change, should not have a big impact to the visitors.”

Mr Hoi said that “most tourists who come to Macau don’t come for this kind [of free] snacks in casinos.”

Via the Chinese mainland there have been recent reports of social media influencers coaching would-be visitors to Macau on how to enjoy time in the city at very low or almost no cost, by taking advantage of special offers or food samples at local casinos, shops and cafes.

Last month, Chinese-language news outlet Macao Daily had cited a local food and drink trade association representative as saying restaurants in the city had seen an uptick in business that the spokesman attributed to a curb on free snacks on casino floors.

Mr Hoi did say however in his Thursday comments, that the authorities were working to curb what he termed “illegal tours”.

That was understood to be a reference to tours that had not been sanctioned by the authorities.

Mr Hoi said MGTO officials visited places including the Border Gate immigration crossing serving neighbouring Zhuhai in the Chinese mainland’s Guangdong province, and popular tourist spots such as the Ruins of St. Paul’s, to observe and investigate signs of unauthorised tour groups.

Such work also involved cooperation with the city’s Public Security Police, as well as using the tourism office’s communication channels with the authorities on the mainland and in neighbouring Hong Kong.