Steps of making tourism the heart of economic growth and a liberal attitude made miracle for destination Macau explained during the first Global Tourism Economy Forum Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, PATA chairman and Director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO).
MACAU- The small territory of Macau with its population of only 600,000 inhabitants is an amazing example of ways to turn a rather sleepy destination two decades ago into one of the hottest in Asia today. Visionary politics from both China and Macau Special Administrative Region’s Government -the territory’s authority following 450-year of ruling by Portugal until 1999- is a remarkable example of ways to show how economic growth is intertwined with tourism growth. “They were progressive steps taken to create this environment, starting from the opening by an airport in 1995, the liberalization of gambling in 2002, the relaxation of entry conditions for individuals from Mainland China in 203 and finally the inscription of Macau as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2005”, said Joao Manuel Costa Antunes.
“The effect of liberalisation of foreign investments was very positively perceived on the gambling and hotel industry as new players felt comforted to come here and develop new facilities. The impact on tourists’ arrivals was immediate and was also sustained by China’s liberalisation over travel conditions for its citizens”, he added.
The buoyant gaming growth in Macao not only brings in high volumes of visitor arrivals, but also stimulates the city’s hotel business as well as its local retail business spurred by visitors’ huge spending, said Antunes. From 7.4 million visitors in 1997, Macao reached a record of 28 million last year with arrivals probably further growing this year by 1.5 to 2%. The growth has been particularly visible in the hotel sector. “We used to have 9,600 rooms in 2001 prior to the opening of the market with very few deluxe hotels. Today, we have over 25,000 rooms in 96 hotels including 15,000 in deluxe and five-star categories”, said Antunes.
The MGTO Director highlighted also the extremely positive trend in employment. “Our unemployment rate is down from 6.1% to less than 2% this year. Tourism indeed played a critical role during economic downturn, particularly between 2003 and 2008, when Macao experienced recession during that period,” Antunes added. Today, total employed population in tourism surpasses 55% compared to 35% in 2001. Macau’s economy has even now surpassed Las Vegas by turning into the world’s biggest gambling market by revenue since 2006. And another sign of its prosperity is also obvious. With Portugal being affected by the recession, many Portuguese are now coming to Macau to become part of the territory’s incredible prosperity…
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
