The Macau Metro Monitor, January 23, 2013

MACAU VISITOR ARRIVALS DSEC

Visitor arrivals totaled 2,495,851 in December 2012, down by 2.0% YoY.  For the whole year of 2012, visitor arrivals increased slightly by 0.3% YoY to 28,082,292.  In December 2012, the average length of stay of visitors stood at 1.0 day, up by 0.1 day YoY.  Visitors from Mainland China increased slightly by 0.9% YoY to 1,495,316, with those traveling to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme rising by 5.4% to 603,904.

THE M3: DEC VISITATION; WENZHOU BAD LOAN RATIO DECLINES; LEVEN - visitation1

WENZHOU BAD LOAN RATIO DECLINES, ENDING 17-MONTH RISING STREAK Bloomberg 

According to the Oriental Morning Post, the non-performing loan ratio at banks in Wenzhou, the eastern Chinese city hit hardest by the collapse of private lending, dropped for the first time since June 2011.  The ratio fell to 3.43% at the end of November, down 0.01% MoM.  Still, the total amount of soured debt climbed to 24 billion yuan in November, an increase of 87 million yuan from October and up 15.3 billion yuan from the beginning of the year.


In Wenzhou, an export hub where almost 90% of families have taken part in underground lending, more than 100 people fled, committed suicide or declared bankruptcy from August 2011 through last May, and at least 800 lending brokers went bankrupt, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The State Council, China's cabinet, announced a trial plan in March aimed at easing funding for small companies and monitoring underground loans.

MACAU GAMING MARKET COULD HIT MOP800 BILLION: LEVEN Macau Business

The president and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, Michael Leven, says Macau’s gaming market could grow to MOP800 billion (US$100 billion) in revenue per year.  In 2012, Macau’s casinos reported gross gaming revenue of MOP304.1 billion.

Leven said, “It will continue to grow, because as income grows in the mainland, it’s going to continue to feed people into Macau. There’s no risk that they won’t have considerable growth.”  He also confirmed of the possible sale of Sands Bethlehem.  “If we get our price, we think it may not fit in the long run for our company. It’s a smaller product. We’ll probably look to sell it. However, somebody’s got to pay the price.  We’re just as happy to keep it,” Leven said.