New York, Paris, Rome—Macau? The latter, a tiny Chinese gaming hub off the Chinese Mainland, doesn’t spring to mind when it comes to must-visit travel destinations. But that is expected to change. The government of the Chinese special administrative region (SAR) has ordered its gaming concessionaires to promote the city as a center of international tourism.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, MGM China and its majority shareholder, MGM Resorts International, will work together to lure more foreign traffic to Macau. They will open a number of new global marketing offices to diversify the company’s Macau customer base beyond gamblers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China.
The offices will be overseen by Sean Lanni, president of MGM Resorts’ Far East Marketing Department.
In a statement, the company said, “For the purpose of fulfilling its obligations under the New Concession Contract, and pursuant to the commitment by MGM China to the Macau government to expand overseas markets and to increase the growth of non-gaming revenue, MGM China desires to utilize the know-how and international resources and reputation of MGM Resorts International and its designated affiliates to conduct marketing activities via [its] existing and future Marketing Offices that will result in additional international customers visiting the Macau properties for non-gaming attractions and also casino gaming.”
The effort will involve “a Macau-based sales and service support team as well as new sales incentive plans and more aggressive targets.”
