Apparently, Venetian Maca is running a promotion that offers a room, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a roundtrip ferry ticket from Hong Kong for the very low price of MOP1,488 ($185 to you and me). That rate is a 1/3rd reduction from the opening special last year of MOP1,008. Promotions like this may be more common as mass market visitation has likely taken a hit from the new visa restrictions.
- Venetian Macau may be reacting to the new visa restrictions put in place last week. As we discussed in our 7/5/08 posting, the Chinese government instituted new restrictions limiting mass market visitation to Macau from once a month to once every two months. Unfortunately, the restrictions were not well communicated to the mainland so many potential customers have been turned away at the border gates. My guys on the ground there tell me that traffic has slowed noticeably at a number of casinos. Discussions with operating level casino workers confirm their observations. Junket commissions and now promotions may continue to eat away at margins as operators battle for market share. It might be time to reset expectations.