Ho: Domestic tourism is tops
Growing prosperity in the Philippines has made it the fastest-growing Asian economy after China, reports Reuters. That’s fueling hopes that its newest casino, Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams, and other resorts in the developing Entertainment City complex will draw their fair share of high rollers fleeing Macau.
A crackdown on corruption in Macau with increased scrutiny of large cash transactions has caused elite players to travel elsewhere to play. As a result, the former Portuguese colony saw its worst monthly decline ever, almost 49 percent year-on-year, versus 40 percent growth at the beginning of 2014.
But decline in Macau is good news for other jurisdictions. “We want to bring more people to Manila, make Manila more of a club destination, a destination for other things, for luxury, for clubbing and these integrated resorts will only add to that,” said nightclub impresario Michael Van Cleef Ault, who just opened his newest venue, Pangaea, in Manila.
Currently, Chinese VIPs account for about 30 percent of its gaming revenues, compared to over 70 percent in Macau, according to the brokerage firm Macquarie.
City of Dreams is the second of four integrated resorts licensed for Entertainment City, Manila’s answer to the Las Vegas Strip. The first casino, the $1.2 billion Solaire, opened in March 2013. By 2020, when all four resorts are open, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the country’s regulatory body, predicts GGR will rise as high as $7 billion.
Manila’s other licensees are Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp, which is opening a $2 billion casino-resort in 2016, as well as Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong Ltd, partners with casino-hotel firm Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. in a property that will open in 2018.
While the Philippines hopes to grow its international visitation, Melco Crown co-Chairman Lawrence Ho said that the existing tourism market is the backbone of the industry in Manila. “Ultimately, what will underpin this property, is really first and foremost the domestic market and people who are already coming here,” Ho said.
There are still pockets of strong resistance to gaming in the country, according to the Baguio Sun Star. The religious sector of Baguio and Benguet, a multifaith organization that represents the Methodist, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Evangelical churches as well as the Philippine Assembly of God, has issued a joint statement saying, “In our concern for the common good, we exhort our people in Baguio and Benguet to abstain from all forms of gambling, be they legal or illegal, like jueteng, e-bingo, online gambling or casino.”
