THE M3: TOURIST STATS, SALARY GUARANTEE FUND, "PEOPLE'S CASINO"

04/15/10 08:04AM EDT

The Macau Metro Monitor, April 15th, 2010


PACKAGE TOURS AND HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATE FOR FEBRUARY 2010 DSEC

Visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 16.3% YoY to 464,370 in February 2010. Visitors from Mainland China (336,551); Japan (21,944); Taiwan, China (21,456); and Hong Kong (19,922) rose by 9.4%, 17.3%, 47.2% and 5.4% respectively. In the first two months of 2010, visitor arrivals in package tours rose up by 12.9% YoY to 923,277.

At the end of February 2010, total number of available guest rooms of the hotel sector increased by 1,360 (+7.7%) YoY to 18,937 rooms.

A total of 578,877 guests checked into hotels and guest-houses in February 2010, up by 12.3% YoY. The average occupancy rate of the hotels and guest-houses increased by 8.5% YoY to 77.8% and that of the hotels reached 78.5%, with 3-star hotels leading at 82.2%. The average length of stay of the guests increased by 0.2 night to 1.5 nights. The cumulative number of guests reached 1,243,276 in the first two months of 2010, up by 19.5% over the same period in 2009.

TOURIST PRICE INDEX FOR THE 1Q 2010 DSEC

The Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the first quarter of 2010 rose by 9.40% YoY to 161.81. TPI reflects the price changes of goods and services purchased by visitors, which is compiled according to the consumption pattern of visitors.

The price indices of Miscellaneous Goods; Accommodation; Transport & Communications; Food, Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco; and Restaurant Services increased notably by 19.26%, 11.66%, 4.94%, 4.59% and 4.59% respectively, attributable to rising gold prices; substantial rise of hotel room rate, airfares, food prices, as well as higher charges for restaurant services during the Lunar New Year. On the contrary, price index of Clothing & Footwear registered a slight decrease of 0.38% year-on-year.

GOVERNMENT TO CREATE SALARY GUARANTEE FUND macaubusiness.com

The preparation of a law to create an independent salary guarantee fund to which employees of insolvent companies can apply is in its final stages, says Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen. Salary guarantee funds help ensure employees their due salary, compensation and other legally recognised benefits. Tam said that, by law, a portion of the taxes paid by gaming concessionaires is already destined for such a fund.  At present, the accumulated contributions amount to MOP600 million, a figure considered sufficient by the government to start this new scheme, said Tam. One of the goals of the law proposal in preparation is to create a sustainable guarantee fund, noted Tam.

LAWMAKER PROPOSES "PEOPLE'S CASINO" macaubusiness.com

Lawmaker Chan Meng Kam has proposed the creation of a new gaming license in Macau, to be managed by a government-backed company. Chan believes that each resident, as a shareholder in the new gaming concessionaire, would enjoy the benefits of the city's gaming boom. Chan is president of Golden Dragon Group which operates Hotel Golden Dragon, which includes a casino managed under SJM's gaming license.

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