Experts | Economic diversification efforts require better planning

Steven M. Rittvo

To take off, economic diversification requires long-term strategic planning from authorities and coordination with industry stakeholders. However, the scarcity of land resources and traffic congestion could foil the government’s attempt to transform the region, according to Steven M. Rittvo, chairman and CEO of the Innovation Group.
“If Macau were to build what Las Vegas did – second-tier hotels – the land is not available. If you increase visitation to Macau, the traffic will become worse than it already is,” the service consultant told the Times after a Macau Gaming Show panel discussion at the Venetian yesterday. The expert’s speech centered on how the territory could learn from its American counterpart, Las Vegas.
In Rittvo’s opinion, Macau would recover earlier than the American gaming hub did after the 2008 global financial crisis, but it would still take a long time to recover, owing to many hurdles along the way.
With traffic woes and land shortages having long been left unaddressed, the group’s head questioned the feasibility of the government’s diversification efforts, especially in the absence of a holistic blueprint detailing the strategies. “All they have said is that we need to diversify, they haven’t said how, and how they will support it,” said Rittvo.
“We need to look at basically what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses, and the opportunities for change, and what’s gonna threaten the growth,” he added. “When you look at that, it gives you the basis to put everything together.”
Furthermore, he urged the government to take a more proactive role in deciding what entertainment should be introduced into the region, rather than leaving the decision up to the gaming operators themselves.
Casino-resorts usually reward gamblers with discounted accommodation, which is not offered to non-gambling tourists. The policy, which reflects the companies’ favoritism of gamblers over non-gamblers, will have to be revised if the resorts aim for a wider tourist market in the future, said Rittvo.
“They would always control the rooms for gamblers,” he said. “They may have less valuable gamblers coming, but they would still control it until they start building more hotels.”
In addition, the consultant company head also criticized the government’s move to only grant 250 tables to Melco Crown’s Studio City, despite the operator having fulfilled the goal of diversification on its premises.
“I don’t think it’s a good government policy because I think they should have been rewarded, not punished with less tables,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Speaking of the controversial full smoking ban, the consultant stood with the gaming concessionaires. He said that, from a humanitarian perspective, some sort of ban should be in place for the sake of the staff.
Nonetheless, Rittvo asserted that the ban would have a definite effect on the industry, especially amid a regional rivalry where other countries and cities such as Vietnam, Laos, Russia, Saipan and South Korea are catching up to Macau in terms of offering smoking-friendly facilities.
He forecasted that if the regulations to be put in place, the already declining gaming revenue would further drop by 16 percent.
Another speaker, Roberto Coppola, global director of market research from YWS Design and Architecture, commented that the authorities have always left the gaming operators directionless in their business.
“I think there needs to be a very clear message about what the government wants. It seems like there are a bunch of uncertainties, especially from the US operators,” he commented.
Both the consultants recommended that the government conduct more studies into the industry to understand the different demands from the broader market that will need to be met in the future.