Game on: healthier fiscal future forecast for Macau as casino industry shifts its focus to tourists and recreational gamblers
Uplift is soon expected following three years of economic contraction, as the city seeks to wean itself off total dependence on gaming revenues
Macau’s economy has had to cope with some severe reverses in the past couple of years, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with indicators pointing to a healthier fiscal future.
Following three years of contraction, 2017 could well see a return to growth as the casino industry, led by heavy-hitters such as Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, shifts its focus to lure recreational gamblers and straightforward tourists, according to Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on.
“Macau’s gaming industry and the whole economy will continue to adjust, but the decline may shrink to 7.2 per cent this year and even resume growth in 2017,” he told the city’s legislative assembly.
“It’s a good time for Macau to reposition after a 25-month gaming revenue drop.”
Gross domestic product – rated at 574,790 patacas per capita – in Macau fell by 20 per cent in 2015, as high-stakes gamblers were warned off what is the world’s largest gambling hub by a trenchant anticorruption campaign in mainland China.
However, the casino industry, which is responsible for half of Macau’s GDP, is in the midst of a construction boom which was initiated some years ago when the flow of gamblers from across the border showed no sign of letting up.
