The Macau Metro Monitor, February 14, 2013
VISITATION GROWTH RATE SLOWS ON FOURTH DAY OF LUNAR NEW YEAR Macau Business
The Year of the Snake continues to bring thousands of tourists to Macau, although the growth rate has slowed down. Yesterday, Macau welcomed close to 162,000 visitors, an increase of 16.4% YoY. That marked a growth slowdown in comparison with the day before, when Macau welcomed almost 167,000 visitors, up by 28.4% YoY. Note that the figures provided by the Tourist Office also include non-resident workers and students, some of whom exit and re-enter Macau during the holiday period.
Of the total tourist arrivals recorded yesterday, close to 114,000 were from the mainland, up by 24.6% YoY. The soaring number of tourists is putting heavy pressure on Macau’s borders, in particular on the Border Gate checkpoint, which is the busiest. Media reports said that people had to wait for several hours either to enter or leave Macau. Some chaotic scenes and scuffles were recorded, though there have been no reports of people being injured.
In the first four days of the Year of the Snake, Macau welcomed close to 566,000 tourists, up by 21.5% YoY.
MBS FINED $475,000 BY REGULATOR FOR SURVEILLANCE BREACHES Strait Times
Marina Bay Sands was fined $475,000 by the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA) on Wednesday for surveillance breaches. The integrated resort had failed on three counts and were fined under Regulation 3(2) of the Casino Control (Surveillance) Regulations. The first breach, which led to a $150,000 fine, was for failing to retain casino surveillance footage during the period of Sep 14, 2011 to April 12, 2012. Casinos have to retain footage for a specified time period. The time period was not disclosed. The second fine of $100,000, was for failing to ensure continuous recording of casino surveillance footage from Dec 17, 2011 to June 14, 2012. The third fine of $225,000, was for the lack of notification system to alert the casino of failures to their surveillance system.
