The Macau Metro Monitor, August 13th, 2010
HOTEL ROOM RATES UP Straits Times
Marina Bay Sands sees nearly full occupancy this weekend when the Youth Olympic Games opens and high levels of occupancy for the next weekend. In Singapore, hotel rates have spiked, and the Youth Olympic Games and the Singapore Grand Prix are likely to keep rates high until the end of September. SA Tours senior executive Dan Lim said: 'It's difficult to get more rooms as all the hotels are almost fully booked. The only way is to try a walk-in booking, or to book through the Internet, which can cost a bit more." However, Singapore's high prices in general, coupled with higher room rates, are shutting out tourists with lower travel budgets.
SHANGHAI'S JULY NEW MORTGAGE LOANS SLUMP 98% ON CURBS Businessweek
A division of PBOC reported Shanghai's loans plunged by 11.4 billion yuan ($1.68 billion) to 270 million yuan, 98% lower YoY and 91% lower MoM. “Because of recent policies on the property market and low transaction volume, individuals’ demand for mortgages continued to contract,” PBOC said.
PACKAGE TOURS AND HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATE FOR JUNE 2010 DSEC
Macau package tours surged 167% YoY to 489,023 in June 2010, as visitors last year were still influenced by swine flu fears. Visitors from Mainland China (337,558), Hong Kong (23,357), Japan (22,591) and Taiwan (22,152) rose substantially by 210.6%, 51.5%, 142.3% and 75.4% respectively.
603,004 guests checked in, 35.3% YoY. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses rose 15.2% points to 75.7%.
VISITOR EXPENDITURE SURVEY FOR THE 2Q 2010 DSEC
Per-capita spending of visitors increased 3% YoY to MOP 1,575 in 2Q. 52% of the interviewed visitors in 2Q claimed they had participated in gaming activities during their stay in Macau. The average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.2 days to 0.9 days.
STUDY ON CHINESE INCOME BOOSTS CASINO PROSPECTS Macau Daily Times
According to a Credit Suisse study, higher China urban household income than what was reported in official government data, due to unreportable income from "illegal or quasi-legal activities," could partly explain the soaring gaming revs in Macau. The report suggested Galaxy would benefit since its Galaxy Cotai project is aimed at the Chinese middle class.