The Macau Metro Monitor, April 17, 2012
PACKAGE TOURS AND HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATE FOR FEBRUARY 2012 DSEC
Visitor arrivals in package tours surged by 41.7% YoY to 661,320 in February 2012. Visitors from Mainland China (438,720) increased by 32.0%, with 155,036 coming from Guangdong Province; besides, those from Taiwan (68,233); Hong Kong (38,944); and the Republic of Korea (34,498) soared by 174.1%, 95.9% and 34.8% respectively.
The number of available guest rooms of the 95 hotels and guest-houses totaled 22,310 at the end of February 2012, an increase of 2,227 rooms (+11.1%) YoY, with those of the 5-star hotels accounting for 63.5% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 721,036 guests in February 2012, an increase of 20.1% YoY; the average length of stay decreased by 0.12 night to 1.4 nights.
PR TOLD TO PAY $2 MILLION DEBT TO MARINA BAY SANDS Strait Times
Japanese businessman Shinichi Takami was ordered to pay $2MM to Marina Bay Sands on Monday after he failed to meet the deadline to pay the cash into court. Takami had been ordered by the High Court earlier this month to pay the sum into court, or provide a banker's guarantee if he wanted to avoid summary judgment on his gambling debts claimed by the casino.
MBS lawyers had sought such a judgment - which means the case would not have to go to a full trial - on the grounds that Takami has no real or valid defense against its claim. MBS's successful ruling is understood to be the first against a foreigner in the many suits it has lined up to recover debts owed by defaulting patrons since the casino commenced operations in April 2010.