THE MACAU METRO MONITOR, NOVEMBER 22, 2013
JAPAN RULING LDP PANEL APPROVES DRAFT OF CASINO GAMBLING BILL Bloomberg
A draft of a bill legalizing casinos was approved by a panel of lawmakers from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. “We are now able to move forward,” said Ryosei Akazawa, head of the party’s transport panel, who said he had now been placed in charge of shepherding the legislation through the approval process. The next step will be to take the bill to the party’s policy panel for official backing.
A cross-party group of lawmakers headed by LDP deputy Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda has said it’s preparing to submit the casino legalization bill to parliament in the current session, which ends Dec. 6. It is unclear whether junior coalition partner New Komeito will agree to support the bill. Generally legislation submitted under Abe’s administration has been backed by both parties.
“We just listened to the arguments today,” Komeito lawmaker Kiyohiko Toyama said after a meeting on the bill. “We haven’t decided anything as a party.”
MACAU VISITOR ARRIVALS FOR OCTOBER 2013 DSEC
Visitor arrivals increased by 2% YoY to 2,394,195 in October 2013. In October 2013, visitors from Mainland China increased by 5% YoY to 1,514,373, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (708,375) and Fujian Province (64,801); Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme totaled 677,292. Moreover, visitors from Taiwan, (89,248) and the Republic of Korea (38,632) increased by 3% and 12%, while those from Hong Kong (543,580) registered a 4% decrease. The average length of stay of visitors held stable from a year earlier, at 1.0 day in October 2013.
FISHERMAN'S WHARF REVAMP WORK TO END IN 2016 Macau Business
Macau Legend Development David Chow Kam Fai expects the redevelopment of Fisherman’s Wharf to be completed in 2016. The work began in August. Chow said the redevelopment will cost HK$6.8 billion (US$877 million). The redeveloped Fisherman’s Wharf will have three new hotels, a dinosaur pavilion and a technologically advanced cinema.
