The Macau Metro Monitor, September 14th 2010
THE MACRO PICTURE LOOKS PRETTIER AND UGLIER Intelligence Macau
IM believes that the positive economic data coming out China and the bet that the government will not put additional curbs on property prices, can be both good and bad for the gaming growth in Macau. With markets recovering and property prices growing, Chinese investors may be more likely to keep money onshore instead of giving it to the junkets to earn a return. Therefore, will the Mass market and direct VIP sub sectors should do well with a strong property and stock market, the junkets may see a pull back in available capital.
VIVA MACAU OFFICIALLY DECLARED BANKRUPT MACRO Macaubusiness.com
On September 13, 2010, Viva Macau was declared officially bankrupt following a creditor's meeting where it was decided not to put forward any rescue plan to try to save the company. Viva Macau's debt is estimated to be in excess of MOP$1BN.
WORKER ACCIDENT COMPENSATION INCREASED BY 10% Macau Daily News
The Macau SAR government announced that beginning January 2011, compensation for workers on long term disability will be adjusted to a range of MOP$375,000 to MOP$1,250,000. Accidents that result in a fatality will result in compensation to the workers family of MOP$300K-$1MM.
PACKAGE TOURS AND HOTEL OCCUPANCY FOR JULY 2010 DSEC
Visitor arrivals in package tours to Macau surged by 75.6% year-on-year to 458,968 in July 2010. Visitors from Mainland China (323,849); Taiwan, China (24,519); Japan (24,081) and the Republic of Korea (12,370) rose substantially by 98.4%, 23.3%, 64.7% and 260.1% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (24,165) decreased by 7.6%. In the first seven months of 2010, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 39.0% year-on-year to 3,523,907.
At the end of July, the total number hotel rooms rose by 1,564 (+8.6%) year-on-year to 19,759 rooms. A total of 654,999 visitors checked into hotel rooms in July, up by 24.6% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (51.9% of total) and Hong Kong (21.3%). The average occupancy rate was 79.9%, up significantly by 12.2% year-on-year. In the first seven months of 2010, hotel patrons accounted for 60.5% of the total number of tourists, down from 61.4% in the same period of 2009.
