Macau Matters | Theatre Art Life

Richard Whitfield

By now, it is clear that the future of Macau rests on it developing much more extensive and “family friendly” entertainment and relaxation opportunities for tourists and locals alike. The ongoing trend towards mass market tourism will continue and must be embraced. Thus, it becomes crucial for Macau to learn how to encourage and nurture entrepreneurs who can create myriad new “experiences” so that we have an offering that is broad and deep enough to satisfy all tastes. A few mega shows will not cut it – we need many, many smaller and more varied experiences that encompass the full range of food and beverage, entertainment and culture, health and wellbeing, sport, shopping, exhibition and convention and other activities that can be attractive to a wide spectrum of visitors.

When I look at the current situation, I believe that Macau has progressed a long way in the last 10+ years, but we still have a long way to go to live up to our positioning as a global centre for rest and relaxation.

For example, I am travelling to Australia next week for hip surgery. I did not even consider getting this done in Macau because the quality and capability of local medical services are far below good international standards. I did consider Hong Kong, but even with the airfare costs, Australia is significantly less expensive and generally better quality; and I get to visit with family and friends for a few months. Medical tourism is something we should be considering, but we currently lack good doctors, and as important, good technical and administrative support staff. And our expectations for medical services are far too low.

Another reason I am looking forward to visiting Melbourne is its food, entertainment and sporting attractions. Restaurants in Macau have improved greatly in recent years but, to be brutally honest, 90% of them are bland copies of each other – there is little originality or flair and service is generally mediocre. There are also very few live entertainment venues in Macau and they have limited variety. The seven-hour starting delay at the recent open-air concert at Hac Sa Beach on May 1 attests to the total incompetence of the local technical team supporting the event.

While we do have some world class attractions, such as the House of Dancing Water show and our large shopping malls and hotels, most of their expertise is imported and many locals do not see them as valid career choices. This must change. We need to be developing and guiding local talent to build on international expertise and take on world leading roles for the future. To achieve this goal we must be much more open to working with international experts and put much more effort into raising awareness and stimulating young local people to train themselves up for leadership roles in the future.

This is why I am so pleased to see new initiatives to inform and educate people to consider and work towards careers in live entertainment and the arts like the just launched TheatreArtLife (theatreartlife.com) website. Started by people living and working in Macau, this invaluable resource provides a platform for live entertainment industry professionals to connect and network with each other, seek employment opportunities around the globe and search for professional development to further develop and evolve in their careers. The starting point for building and extending industries is creating awareness of the possibilities and opportunities so that information and networking resources like this one are crucial and we need to support them and help them grow. Theatre Art Life is a great exemplar of what can be done and I would love to see other comparable Macau-based resources emerge for related fields.