Concessionaires: Gastronomy, sports, and tech to boost local tourism

Representatives from each of the six gaming concessionaires commended investments in gastronomy, sports spectacles, and immersive tech experiences earlier this week during a panel titled “Macao Session – Macao Tourism Investment Promotion Session” at the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) in Harbin.

The afternoon session, moderated by Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, brought together senior representatives from SJM Resorts, Sands China, Wynn Resorts Macau, MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment Group, and Melco Resorts & Entertainment.

One by one, they described strategies to enrich non-gaming offerings and deliver more emotionally resonant experiences, in an effort to reposition Macau as a “tourist home” rather than a stopover destination.

Repositioning Macau as a ‘tourist home’

Collectively, they agreed that global tourism is shifting away from basic sightseeing toward experiential travel. They underlined the need to offer higher-quality, emotionally resonant experiences that deliver value and depth, noting that visitors increasingly seek meaningful, immersive stays.

The MGTO director opened by highlighting Macau’s dual UNESCO status as a cornerstone of its tourism appeal. She said the city leans on what she called its two core tourism “business cards.”

“One is that in 2005, Macau’s historic city center was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The second very important calling card is that in 2017, we also joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as the City of Gastronomy,” Fernandes told delegates, framing heritage and gastronomy as the foundation on which new tourism experiences are being built.

City of gastronomy

The first panelist, Daisy Ho, managing director of SJM Resorts, positioned food and beverage (F&B) as Macau’s “core strategic strength,” noting that F&B consistently accounts for more than one-fifth of non-gaming spending.

Ho recalled SJM’s accolades in fine dining, including 17 consecutive years of Michelin three- and two-star recognition at Robuchon au Dôme and The Eight at Grand Lisboa, and a new one-star for Zuicho at Grand Lisboa Palace.

“Our city has the highest density of Michelin stars globally, expanding from 15 to 19 Michelin restaurants since 2022. We are proud to be a driving force behind this rise,” she said.

According to Ho, SJM’s 2025 F&B initiatives included an average of 2.5 monthly signature events with 13 world-renowned restaurants and 24 top Asian bars, alongside gastro-diplomacy at overseas UNESCO festivals and training workshops.

“This year, SJM collaborated with 13 world-renowned restaurants and 24 top bars in Asia to bring international stardom to our doorsteps for guests**. These events offer a journey into the philosophy of the chefs and the historical context of Macau cuisine, driving critical knowledge transfer in technique, sustainable practice, and service approach**,” Ho said. She explained that the regular cadence of these events helps smooth out seasonality by building a loyal audience, attracting new demographics, and sustaining social media buzz, keeping Macau top of mind as a culinary destination.

Ho added that SJM is also taking gastronomy “out of our own restaurants and into the global conversation,” emphasizing that every time Macau represents its East-West culinary heritage at overseas UNESCO festivals, it helps generate future travel demand.

City of Sports, powered by strong IP

Shifting gears from gastronomy to sports, Wilfred Wong, executive vice chairman of Sands China Ltd., said Sands is reshaping its offerings to match Macau’s evolving tourism strategy, particularly toward attracting younger and more diverse visitors with sports and entertainment.

He recalled that when Sands first entered Macau, “more than 20 years ago,” its priority was to introduce a form of comprehensive tourism that did not exist in Asia at the time, “combining hotels, exhibitions, entertainment, dining, and retail into a one-stop experience.”

Wong noted that this integrated model now gives the company the flexibility to quickly adapt to the government’s new “tourist city” concept.

With the “core hardware” in place, Wong said the focus has moved to designing programs that can “attract global attention,” insisting that Macau “can no longer play small” if it wants to stand out internationally.

Citing October’s NBA China Games at the Venetian Macao, he said the event generated about 3 billion pieces of related social media content and showcased the impact of strong intellectual property in driving visitor interest.

Looking ahead, Wong said the upgraded Venetian Arena is intended to anchor a broader push into international sports. Sands plans to bring in more high-profile events as part of efforts to diversify the economy and build Macau as a “city of sports,” something he said requires “concrete action.”

Wong said, “Sports account for 10% of tourism consumption globally, and it is the fastest-growing sector. We think that if we can continue to promote more sports brands to Macau, we can quickly gain acceptance, and Macau has this ability.”

He added, “From a three-dimensional perspective, Macau has the ability to host major events and showcase our facilities, software, and hardware to the world.”

Echoing that vision, Galaxy Entertainment Group director Philip Cheng said large-scale entertainment and sports events are now key growth drivers for tourism and the MICE sector.

He noted that Galaxy has hosted more than 1,000 such events in the past two years, with all tickets sold and “fully paid for” by guests, which he described as proof that “this is a good direction” for diversification.

Cheng cited concerts at his property by Andrea Bocelli and BLACKPINK, along with major sports events such as WTT and ITTF table tennis tournaments and UFC fights, as examples of how Macau can attract global audiences in much the same way Wong hopes to do with the NBA.

He added that Galaxy’s partnerships with Tencent Music and Damai Entertainment help secure top-tier shows, while the group provides “good hardware” and flexible venues capable of hosting anything from a few hundred people to crowds of up to 100,000.

Like Sands, Cheng emphasized that Galaxy’s integrated layout enhances the visitor experience by clustering facilities around performance spaces. Guests can move from any point on the property to the event area in about 15 minutes, with minimal traffic bottlenecks and easy access to food, shopping, and accommodation.

City of Culture

MGM China president and executive director Kenneth Feng said the group’s “2049” residency show at MGM Cotai, created with renowned director Zhang Yimou, has already attracted audiences from more than 40 countries. He presented the production as an example of how cultural programming can broaden Macau’s international profile and deepen engagement.

Feng also spotlighted the POLY MGM Museum at MGM Macau on the peninsula.

“We have opened a new museum. The museum is very small, 2,000 square meters, but we have attracted 1 million tourists a year, that is, two or three thousand people a day,” he said, positioning the museum as both a cultural venue and a tourism asset.

On the broader effort to enhance non-gaming offerings, Feng stressed collaboration among concessionaires.

“We work together, everyone can do what they are good at, so that Macau can truly improve its entire quality, service, and products,” he said. “We do what we do best […] so visitors feel Macau is different, convenient, and comfortable.”

Also, on the importance of cultural experiences in Macau, Linda Chen, president, vice chairman, and executive director of Wynn Resorts Macau, reinforced the importance of these experiences, saying, “only with culture, travel, inspiration, and memory will you yearn for and come back.”

Across Wynn Macau’s properties, Chen highlighted “sincere service” and a strong staff culture as the company’s “secret weapon,” tying these qualities to guest loyalty and brand reputation. She also pointed to the immersive experiences at the Illuminarium in Wynn Palace as a key differentiator in the competitive tourism and entertainment market.

She explained that the Illuminarium’s immersive space uses advanced lighting, visual technology, and 360-surround sound to place visitors in lifelike environments, citing last year’s space-themed show and WILD: An Immersive Safari Experience, which simulates close encounters with African wildlife.

In conclusion, Chen encouraged Macau to keep presenting experiences in ways that resonate with international visitors, so that “our own Macau story” can reach a wider audience and “our Chinese story” can be showcased through higher-quality tourism development.

Targeting mid-priced tourism market

Offering a different angle, Raymond Lo of Melco Resorts & Entertainment said the sector should focus more on the mid-priced tourism segment.

He argued that “industry players in Macau” want to expand the city’s appeal while working with the government and the Greater Bay Area to build a stronger, more recognizable Macau tourism brand.

“We all hope to make Macau’s tourism bigger and stronger […] hoping to strengthen Macau’s tourism brand and do a good job together. That’s probably how it should be done,” he said, suggesting that accessible pricing and broader branding will be crucial alongside high-end offerings.