Diversified products needed to attract returning visitors

Philip Xie

Despite the region’s push for diversifying its non-gaming activities and its hopes of redirecting its visitors to entertainment activities, a scholar has noted that the future of Macau’s economy, at current projections, would still be based on gaming earnings.

Macau has achieved its plan of generating at least 9 percent of its governmental revenue from local gaming operators in 2015 – a plan that was included in the region’s Five-Year Development Plan.

Statistics additionally showed that non-gaming revenue accounted for 9.39 percent of overall revenue in the casino sector in 2015.

Philip Xie, dean of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the Macau University of Science and Technology, shared that it is still a predicament for the gaming hub to rapidly move towards presenting non-gaming offerings.

Speaking on the sidelines of the British Business Association of Macau’s business luncheon yesterday, the scholar argued that it would still take some time for the territory to develop a sustainable model that would attract non-gaming tourists.

“This is a dilemma for Macau because when you break down the revenues, probably 80-90 percent of it comes from gaming. […] This is a very different mode compared to Las Vegas,” Xie told the press.

The scholar remarked that the region should make use of the gaming industry as a base to further develop a wider range of offerings.

Such offerings could include a convention industry, art and culture, and culinary tourism.

“But the basis is still gaming. There’s no doubt about it,” Xie stressed.

Meanwhile, the scholar also contended that integrated resorts need to find their own niche – in a bid to offer products that would effectively attract returning costumers.

Development of new products and offerings remains a challenge for the hospitality industry. Yet Xie cited in his belief that the industry is moving towards providing diversified offerings that suit clients with different lifestyles – citing the upcoming opening of integrated resorts at the Cotai Strip.

“If you take a look at Wynn Palace, Morpheus, MGM Grand Cotai: they are all kind of positioned in different ways. […] They have different products, I think that’s the future,” he shared.

“Eventually tourists will come here and split their time to do both gaming and leisure activities. I think it’s happening right now but slowly,” Xie added.

Future tourism-offering developments would continue in Taipa and Coloane areas.   

According to the professor, he looks forward to the Macao Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) master plan – which is expected to be released this year – as it will provide a blueprint purpose for future developments.

Earlier this year, the MGTO had announced four major goals for 2017 that included developing a diversity of tourism products, enhancing industry service quality, enhancing destination promotion and strengthening multilateral co-operation mechanism.

Further, speaking briefly on the conservation of the Lai Chi Viun shipyards, Xi shared that authorities should be cautious in their plan for the heritage site – citing environmental factors and the neighborhood’s sentiments towards construction in the area.