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Non-gaming spend in Macau to reach US$12bn by 2025

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macau tourism mgto master plan

The Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan is a 15 year master plan from the Macau Government Tourism office (MGTO).  Published yesterday, it estimates that visitors to the city will spend more on non-gaming activities than ever before.

It reckons that the annual aggregate non-gaming spend by visitors to Macau will grow. it will rise from its current US$6.55 billion in 2016 to between US$12 billion and US$14 billion by 2025.

This assessment is based a previous estimate from the MGTO. This was that total visitor arrivals to Macau are expected to grow from almost 31 million in 2015 to around 40 million by 2025.

The MGTO master plan is described as a, “blueprint for the development of the Macau tourism industry in the next 15 years and a relevant guideline for future actions”.

The 300 page master plan from MGTO also lists action plans. These include helping casino operators with reducing the visitor’s use of public transport during peak hours. They were asked to, “consider the future potential for utilising the Cotai border [crossing] for mainland non-resident workers”. This is because most of the  non-resident workers in work commute from the adjacent Zhuhai prefecture in mainland China. They do this via Gongbei on the Macau peninsula.

Macau Tourism plans include theme park

Furthermore the MGTO master plan also includes the development of a theme park “with distinctive features” in the city. However, MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes stressed that this was not the project that had been earlier proposed by an executive director of Macau gaming operator SJM Holdings Ltd, Angela Leong On Kei,  and Stanley Ho Hung Sun, a fourth consort of the firm’s founder, .

Ms Senna Fernandes said, “While the idea of a ‘Hello Kitty Land’ is circulating in the community, it is not what we are referring to, because we have yet to see such project [developing]. But from what we understand, there are investors of some new tourism facilities who are conducting evaluations in Macau. Hence we are unable to disclose any details.

We are not talking about projects like a Disneyland or an Ocean Park, but some smaller-size products.”

A “Master Plan Steering” group will now be set up. It will be led by led by the city’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam Chon Weng.

https://www.ggrasia.com/macau-visitor-non-gaming-spend-to-reach-us12bn-by-2025/

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Charles Read

Charles is managing director at blooloop. He attends numerous trade shows around the world and frequently speaks about trends and social media for the attractions industry at conferences. Outside of blooloop, his passions are diving, trees and cricket.

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