Leap Day also helped
Macau has posted almost-positive results for the month of February, due to a boost in tourism during the Chinese New Year celebration, and an extra day during Leap Year.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said the city’s casinos collected $2.4 billion during the month, down less than 1 percent for the smallest drop in 21 months.
“Clearly the Chinese New Year period was solid, especially as it relates to high-margin mass market business,” said Union Gaming Group analyst Grant Govertsen. “We continued to observe higher than normal levels of mass-market foot traffic in the days and weeks after Chinese New Year ended.”
Average daily GGR was 4 percent higher than in October, which included Golden Week, and was 13 percent higher than the August-September average.
“We don’t view the February result as emblematic of a distinct change in the market,” Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli told the Review-Journal. “The holiday periods, given the influx of mass visitors and constrained VIP activity, are a bit more robust, on a relative basis, to the surrounding periods.”
The Macau Daily Times reports that the number of overnight visitors in January increased 5.3 percent year-on-year to more than 1,145,000. The average length of increased to 1.2 days. In other statistics, the number of visitors from Mainland China was down slightly, 0.7 percent year-on-year. Visitors from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan increased by 0.6 percent and 11.6 percent respectively. Visitors from the United States and the United Kingdom increased by 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent year-on-year, while those from Australia declined by 6.6 percent.
In addition to diversifying its entertainment amenities, Macau is also in the market for more convention business, reports Macao Magazine. Delegates from the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute recently traveled to Melbourne, Australia to attract more conventions and exhibitions from the Asia-Pacific region. IPIM’s exhibit included the slogan “Macau – Capital of Major Events.” The Macau Statistics and Census Bureau shows that between January and September 2015 there were 637 meetings, conferences and exhibitions in Macau, 77 more than in 2014, for a total of 1.6 million participants, or 8.7 percent more than in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the 58th annual Forbes Travel Guide shows that Macau and Hong Kong have retained their lead in the hotel award categories of Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple five-star winner.
Casinos and junket operators have both taken a hit during the stubborn downturn. Neptune Group Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed junket investor, recorded a net loss of HKD257.0 million (US$33.1 million) in the second half of 2015. The firm had reported a profit of HKD130.9 million in the prior-year period, reported GGRAsia.
“The anti-corruption cases in China reportedly forced indirectly a contraction in Macau’s gaming industry, with news of VIP room closures and even some major operators going out of business,” Neptune said in the aftermath of the news. Devaluation of the renminbi and a slowing Chinese economy also pose risks for the VIP sector, said Neptune.
