Rank Country GDP - real growth rate (%) - 2002
1 Equatorial Guinea 20
2 East Timor 18
3 Armenia 12.7
4 Chad 11.3
5 Liechtenstein 11
6 Faroe Islands 10
7 Macau 9.5
8 Kazakhstan 9.5
9 Angola 9
10 China 8

Macau's economy four years after reversion to China remains one of the most open in the world. The territory's net exports of goods and services account for 39% of GDP with tourism and apparel exports as the mainstays. Although the territory was hit hard by the 1998 Asian financial crisis and the global downturn in 2001, its economy grew an estimated 9.5% in 2002. A rapid rise in the number of mainland visitors because of China's easing of restrictions on travel drove the recovery. The budget also returned to surplus in 2002 because of the surge in visitors from China and a hike in taxes on gambling profits, which generated about 63% of government revenue. The liberalization of Macao's gambling monopoly may contribute to GDP growth, as the three companies awarded gambling licenses have pledged to invest $2.2 billion - roughly 33% of GDP - in the territory. Much of Macau's textile industry may move to the mainland as the Multi-Fiber Agreement is phased out. The territory may have to rely more on gambling and trade-related services to generate growth.

GDP growth rate : 28.6% (2003)
GDP per capita : $22500 (2003)
Labor force : 214,000
Purchasing power parity : $8.6 billion
Unemployment rate : 5%
Budget : Revenues: $1.41 billion, Expenditures: $1.19 billion, including capital expenditures of $194 million (2003)

Chief Executive Edmund Ho said today (3 June) that as a service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Macao could bring many business opportunities to other members of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region.

Edmund Ho reaffirmed Macao's role as a service center in the Pan-PRD region at the joint press conference after the closing of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Cooperation and Development Forum.

He said that the "Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries" hosted by the Central Government in Macao was an important maneuver in the country¡¦s overall foreign affairs policy that capitalized the historical links between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries and further strengthened the economic links between China and those countries.

He said that most Portuguese-speaking countries are developing and that means a lot of business opportunities. In addition, they were also hubs in Europe, Africa and Latin America, which were in great demand for Chinese products as well as investments.

He said that Macao had a clear orientation as the regional tourism and leisure center as well as a business service platform in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region and it could bring opportunities to all members of the region.

He assured that Macao would have no reserve in the process of regional cooperation and would fully play out its unique role in order to benefit all of it's partners in the region.

Wednesday July 28, 7:34 AM
Taiwan's Penghu to Farewell First International Charter Flight

TAIPEI, July 28 Asia Pulse - TransAsia Airways will operate charter flights between Penghu and Macau from Aug. 10, turning a new page in the offshore island county's civil aviation history, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said Tuesday.

The round-trip flight will also make Penghu's Makung Airport the first airport on Taiwan's outlying islands that can host international charter flights, a CAA official said, adding that Makung Airport will be Taiwan's fifth international airport.

A TransAsia Airways charter plane will take passengers to Penghu from Macau on its return flight. The carrier is scheduled to operate another round-trip Penghu-Macau charter flight Aug. 14.

A Penghu County Government official said the inauguration of the charter flights marks a critical step forward in the island county's tourism development.

Makung Airport opened in August 1977. With the number of passengers increasing rapidly, the CAA has spent NT$1.5 billion on a new terminal near the old one. The new terminal was inaugurated Sept. 27, 2002.

(CNA)

Tourism in China's Macao Special Administrative Region jumped 52 percent in the first six months of 2004, with 1.87 million visitors.

Xinhua, China's main government-run news agency, reported Saturday that the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau said that 67 hotels and guesthouses recorded an average room occupancy rate of 75 percent in June, up 25 percent from last year.

Most of Macao's visitors were from China's mainland,56 percent, Hong Kong, 33 percent, and Taiwan, 3 percent.

Over a million Taiwanese leisure travelers are expected to flock to Asia's Las Vegas this year, a top tourism official said yesterday.

"Taiwanese arrivals increased 34 percent from January to July of this year," Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, said at the launch of Macau's A-Ma Cultural and Tourism Festival in Taipei.

Grabbing the No. 3 spot among Macau's tourism generating markets, Taiwan supplied the former Portuguese enclave over 1.02 million tourists last year, down 33.28 percent compared with year-ago figures. The decline was largely attributed to the SARS scare that hammered many Asian destinations in the second quarter of 2003, he added.

This year, however, Macau was enjoying an unprecedented travel boom.

During the first seven months of 2004, Macau already drew 677,412 Taiwanese visitors, up 34.28 percent compared with year-ago numbers. The official was confident that more Taiwanese visitors would be flying and ferrying their way to Macau in the remaining months of the year to attend the latter's cultural festivals and sporting events. The list included the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest and Carnival, the A-Ma Cultural and Tourism Festival, the Asian Motocross Championship, the Asian Karting Championship, the Macau Food Festival, and the 51st Macau Grand Prix.

China was also a major source of tourists for Macau. According to the official, more than 8.3 million visitors from China traveled to Macau from August 2003 to July of this year, making it Macau's No. 1 tourism-generating market.

This year, Macau was expecting a total of 15 million tourists, he added.

"Macau is growing very fast. Despite last year's SARS scare, our tourism industry still managed to grow three percent in 2003," said the travel cheerleader.

During the first seven months of 2004, Macau enjoyed a 51 percent increase in arrivals, he added.

"Macau is a value-for-money destination. It's a city of festivals. In the coming months, we will be holding major events every two weeks," said Antunes, a Macau resident for over two decades.

"You can bundle Macau with Hong Kong, and you will discover that it is a unique destination in itself. We are still very European, and you will see that not only in our heritage but also in our culture, and in some of our products."

Macau, he added, was more than just an entertainment and casino haven. "Not many people know that Macau has such a strong culture. The A-Ma Festival personifies that," said the executive.

Scheduled from October 22 to 23, the festival featured a series of activities including the inauguration of the A-Ma Cultural Village in Coloane replete with colorful and religious rituals, fireworks display, food festival, and the parade of the statue of the Sea Goddess.

A 2,000-strong Taiwanese delegation would be flying to Macau for the event, a tour organizer said yesterday.

"We feel that this is one aspect of our culture that links us to Taiwan since the A-Ma culture is very strong here," Antunes said. According to some historical accounts, the name "Macau" was actually derived from the words "A-ma kao" or A-Ma Bay.

The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region ( SAR) hosted a reception Friday morning in honor of the visiting Olympic medalists from the Chinese mainland.

The 63-strong delegation including 46 gold medalists of the just closed Athens Olympic Games attended the reception, which was jointly held by the Liaison Office, the Commission of the Foreign Ministry in Macau and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Garrison in Macau.

Xu Ze, deputy director of the Liaison Office, said that the delegation's Macau visit boosted morale of the staff in the Liaison Office in further devoting to the practices of &quotone country, two systems" principle in Macau.

Yu Zaiqing, deputy director of the delegation and vice president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, said that the delegation's visit is conducive to enhancing a cohesion of patriotic forces in Macau. The sports society is willing to make its due contribution to the nation's unity.

Elixir Group (Macau) Ltd and Cyber Village Sdn Bhd (CVSB), a subsidiary of Sesdaq-listed Cyber Village Holdings Ltd, have signed an agreement for the design, development and implementation of customer relationship, loyalty and rewards management applications for Elixir's clients.

The agreement awards the application development of three Elixir projects to CVSB, at a total cost of RM4.9mil. The exchange of documents was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Elixir is a subsidiary of Hong Kong GEM-listed Value Convergence Holdings Ltd.

The first of the three projects is to develop a customer loyalty and rewards extension to a slot machine card management system.

The second involves the development of a customer relationship management (CRM) application, incorporating a card-based customer loyalty and rewards management system, for the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (CAM).

This would be targeted at frequent travellers to Macau International Airport, which aims to increase sales at the airport's retail outlets and services.

Finally, CVSB will develop an enterprise-scale CRM application, incorporating a card-based customer loyalty, rewards and payment management system, targeted at attracting and retaining visitors to Macau Fisherman's Wharf projects, including its casinos, hotels, theme parks, retail outlets, food courts and restaurants.

The system would allow integration to point-of-sale systems deployed at these sites.

The projects are expected to be completed within 12 months, CVSB, a Multimedia Super Corridor status company, said in a statement.

"In recent months, Cyber Village -- with the help of our new Chinese investors -- has been marketing fairly aggressively in various parts of China," said CVSB chief executive officer Tony Pua.

"Today's signing ... represents another milestone in our growth and regional expansion.

"It is also proof that Malaysian IT companies have very strong skills and capabilities which are in demand in the global market," he claimed.

MACAO, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Macao's casino racked in 500 million patacas (62 million US dollars) in gross revenue in the first three days of the National Day holiday which began on Oct. 1.

Tuesday's Macao Daily News reported that the holiday market has boosted the gaming sector. The accumulated gross revenues and taxes yielded by the gaming sector in the first nine months this year have surpassed the total amounts of last year.

For the whole of last year, the government collected 10.17 billion patacas (1.27 billion US dollars) in gaming taxes.

The newspapers source said that the gaming revenue in Septemberamounted to 3 billion patacas (375 million US dollars), which weresome one billion patacas (125 million US dollars) lower than the monthly income in the previous two months.

The newspaper said that the Macao Gaming Co. Ltd. owned by tycoon Stanley Ho held 67 percent of the market share in September,during which Macao's first American casino the Las Vegas Sands Macao opened in May grasped 13.5 percent, and the Hong Kong-invested Galaxy Waldo inaugurated in July obtained 19.5 percent.

Industry insiders forecast that based on the current situation,the gaming sector would contribute 13 billion patacas (1.2 billionUS dollars) to the government's tax coffer this year. Enditem

Saturday October 30, 1:30 PM
Macau, China expand free trade agreement

(AP) Macau and China have expanded a free trade agreement, stripping tariffs off 190 types of Macau goods, while increasing preferential access to mainland industries.

The new tariff-free products range from chemicals to clothing, the Macau government said in a statement posted on its Web site late Friday. The removal of tariffs takes effect on Jan. 1, 2005.

China also opened up airport operation, information technology and job referral services, while further improving access for Macau companies in 11 sectors where they already enjoy preferential treatment.

The original trade deal eliminated tariffs on 273 Macau goods and opened up 18 sectors.

The expanded deal was signed Friday in Macau by China's Vice Minister of Commerce An Min and Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance Tam Pak Yuen.

The Macau government statement didn't say how much the original deal or its additions are worth to this gambling-driven economy. Calls to Macau officials went unanswered Saturday.

A former Portuguese colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1999, Macau is located 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Hong Kong, also a former British colony now under mainland rule.

But both territories maintain separate political, economic and legal systems from China. Hong Kong has also signed a similar trade deal with China that was also expanded recently.

The Chinese Central People's Government and the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government signed in Macao on Friday a supplemental agreement of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce An Min and Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR government Francis Tam Pak Yuen signed the supplemental agreement and three annexes at the signing ceremony attended by Chief Executive of the Macao SAR Edmund Ho Hau Wah.

An official press release of the Macao SAR government said that the supplemental agreement is aimed to further promote trade and economic cooperation between the Chinese mainland and the Macao SAR.

According to the supplemental agreement of the trade pact, an additional package of 190 products made in Macao will enjoy zero tariffs for entering the mainland market starting on January 1 of 2005. By that time, the total number of Macao's zero-tariff products will reach 501.

Meanwhile, Macao companies will enjoy more favorable policies for entering 11 of the 18 service sectors in China's mainland, which have already been opened up for companies from the Macao SAR under CEPA, said the supplemental agreement, adding that eight more service sectors, including airport management, information technology and cultural and entertainment services, will be open for Macao firms.

In addition, individuals from the Macao SAR, who can currently run their companies in Guangdong Province according to CEPA, will be permitted to develop their private enterprises around the country.

$1.2b theme park for Macau port
Raymond Wang, Hong Kong Standard
November 10, 2004

Cruise ship operator Macau Success has teamed up with casino tycoon Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) to build a HK$1.2 billion theme park in Macau's Inner Harbour area.

The park, Ponte 16, will be be built on a 23,066-square-metre site with potential gross floor area of 63,584 square metres.

It will feature a 250-room hotel, a casino with more than 100 gambling tables to be run by SJM, a 25,833- square metre shopping arcade, a cultural space and car parks. Construction is expected to begin next year and be completed by the end of 2006.

Macau Success will boost its stake in a joint-venture property development company to 24.5 per cent from 10 per cent and set aside about HK$300 million for Ponte 16, said executive director Marco Lee .

The Macau government has conditionally granted the land for HK$87.26 million.

SJM unit SJM-Investmentos has agreed to transfer 14.5 per cent equity interests in the joint-venture property development company to both Macau Success and independent third party Joy Idea for HK$1.4 million.

After the transfer, SJM-Investmentos will own 51 per cent of the project, while Macau Success and Joy Idea own 24.5 per cent each.

Macau Success' spokesman said the company was optimistic about Macau's growth potential. "We are keen to further diversify our businesses and tap into the huge potential markets of hotel, casino and property-related businesses there in future.

"The proposed joint development in Ponte 16 not only enables the company to take part in the hotel and related industries in Macau, but also can have a synergistic effect on the company's existing cruise and travel agency businesses," he added.

Trading in the shares of Macau Success was suspended on Tuesday pending the announcement. The stock closed at HK$0.93 per share on Monday.

MACAO, Nov. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Two of China's major wineries based in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are eyeing Macao for export and re-export to European and American markets.

At a joint wine-tasting reception, the Vinisuntime International China (Suntime) and the Les Champs D'or (XiangDu Winery Co. Ltd.) invited Macao wine traders and lovers to have a taste of their premium quality wines.

Xinjiang produces the best grapes and wines in China. Vine growing bases in Xinjiang has the same latitude of 44 degree as Bordeaux in France and California in America.

Filipe Cunha Santos, president of the Macao Wine Society, offered a high comment on the quality and production technique of the wine products. He considered the wineries would find a good market in Macao, which has a tradition of wine-drinking.

One of the two promoters, the Suntime has the largest winery production base in Asia occupying 10,000 hectares in Xinjiang. It has set up overseas branches in America, Mexico, Cuba, Russia and Hong Kong.

Lin Wei, a representative from Suntime, said that Suntime's drywine sales ranks the fourth in China. It is eyeing more exports via Macao, where the company is inclining a more emphasis on market promotion.

Li Ruiqin, president of XiangDu, said that wine products generated from the desert region of Xinjiang is pollution-free. The Sino-French firm has already built a production capacity of 3,000 tons a year, which will be gradually expanded to 30,000 tons.

The XiangDu Wine Museum also signed a memorandum here with the Macao Museum of Wines to jointly promote wine culture. Enditem

Investors have been advised to tread warily around Macau plays, with analysts warning that many of the small listed firms joining the foray into property, hotel and gambling businesses have already made unsustainable price gains.

``The recent sharp rise of Macau-related stocks seems quite unreasonable,'' Delta Asia Financial Group head of research Conita Hung said.

``The good news is already reflected in the prices. Investors should look at when these new plans could contribute profits to the listed companies.''

Shares of Emperor (China Concepts) Investments, which plans to change its name to Emperor Entertainment Hotel, soared 176 per cent on Friday to close at HK$21.55 after it unveiled plans to run casino and hotel operations in Macau through the acquisition of 90 per cent of Great Assets.

Emperor said it will fund the purchase by a placement of 2.2 million new shares at HK$10 each and an issue of about 660 million rights shares at HK$0.68 each.

Shares of A-Max Holdings and Medtech Group also rose, following the previous rally in better known listed firms such as Shun Tak Holdings and Melco International Development, both controlled by Stanley Ho's family, and local property developers K Wah International and Far East Consortium.

A-Max Holdings, whose shares have risen 43 per cent, said it may buy shares in Greek Mythology (Macau) Entertainment Group, a company mainly engaged in gambling and entertainment business in Macau. According to the information provided by Greek Mythology, it will open one of the largest casinos in Macau with more than 200 gambling tables by the end of 2004.

Medtech Group, which resumed trading on Friday after two share placements fetched about HK$147.8 million within two weeks, closed up 9.4 per cent to HK$0.198 on Friday.

The gain came after it said the proceeds ``may be used for a possible acquisition of an equity interest in a hotel in Macau ... and has commenced a preliminary discussion with a party.''

``Investors should note that any stocks with a single plan to expand into Macau now have gone up but some of them haven't even begun the start-ups. Such concept-driven rises will not last long and investors should cut losses when the market turns down,'' Tung Tai Securities associate director Kenny Tang said. ``Companies such as Melco and Emperor are making real gambling businesses in Macau and they will benefit from the industry growth.''

Ezcom Holdings, which mainly engages in mobile phones and spare parts trading, said it was in talks with a United States-backed casino group in Macau, but its shares closed down 7 per cent to HK$0.385.

As reported by the China Standard: "Investors have been advised to tread warily around Macau plays, with analysts warning that many of the small listed firms joining the foray into property, hotel and gambling businesses have already made unsustainable price gains.

"`The recent sharp rise of Macau-related stocks seems quite unreasonable,'' Delta Asia Financial Group head of research Conita Hung said.

"…`Investors should note that any stocks with a single plan to expand into Macau now have gone up but some of them haven't even begun the start-ups. Such concept-driven rises will not last long and investors should cut losses when the market turns down,' Tung Tai Securities associate director Kenny Tang said. `Companies such as Melco and Emperor are making real gambling businesses in Macau and they will benefit from the industry growth.'…"

Construction of a cross-sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zuhai and Macao will be taken up in the future that will provide manufacturers of Zuhai a link with the world-class international finance and logistic centre of Hong Kong, the release said. Zuhai, thus, is likely to become a major hub connecting Hong Kong, Macao and southwest China with the rest of the world.

Securities regulators are investigating into the recent outbreak of Macau fever that has seen surging share prices of companies associated with new casino projects in the former Portuguese enclave.

Sources told the South China Morning Post yesterday the stock exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission were concerned about possible market manipulation and false disclosures.

The SFC has sent letters to several brokerages requesting information about clients who have been trading heavily on Macau-concept stocks.

An SFC spokesperson refused to comment on individual investigations but said it always closely monitored the market and checked on disclosures by listed companies.

A source at the stock exchange said it was also checking on the Macau-concept companies' announcements as well as remarks made by their executives, including casino king Stanley Ho Hung-sun.

Earlier this month, Mr Ho was reported as saying he was considering injecting his Macau gaming business into another of his companies, Melco International Development, prompting the stock to soar. He later denied making the statement.

Macau fever has also gripped two of Emperor Group's listed firms - Emperor (China Concept) Investments and Emperor International Holdings - which yesterday voluntarily suspended their shares from trading before the market opened, pending announcements containing "price-sensitive information".

Last Friday the two companies had announced about their intention to enter Macau's casino and hotel business by teaming up with Mr Ho.

The news drove Emperor China share price up 94.9 per cent to close at $ 42 on Monday, following a 176 per cent surge last Friday, while Emperor International's share price gained 18.64 per cent to close at $ 14 on Monday.

Ruili Holdings, an electronic games and toymaker, also became a Macau-concept stock on Monday when it announced it had had "preliminary discussions with an independent third party in relation to possible acquisition of certain interests in the hotel and entertainment business in Macau".

Although the announcement said "no contract, memorandum of understanding or letter of intent has been signed by the company", investors drove the share price 50 per cent higher to 4.2 cents yesterday, following a 64.71 per cent rise on Monday.

Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Securities Professional Association, welcomed the investigations but doubted they would calm the fever.

"It is like the red chips and dotcom fever before. Investors like to speculate on any hot concept and now it is the turn of Macau. The surge may not be related to any manipulation activities but may only be due to excessive speculative trading of retail investors."

Eric Yuen, the head of research at Dao Heng Securities, said: "Many of these second and third-line companies that announce plans to set up hotels in Macau have no ... expertise in running a hotel. Investors have no way of knowing whether they will actually do it and whether they have money to carry out the plans."

In order to strenghten the economic integration between mainland China and Macao SAR, the Chinese government has approved China Unicom to acquire 49% of of Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, the largest telecom in the region.

Shares are currently held by British Cable & Wireless (51%), Portugal Telecommunication International (28%), Zhongxinfutai (20%) and the Macao SAR government (1%).

It is still unclear whether the acquisition will be done by the mainland-based China Unicom Group or its listed affiliate in Hong Kong.

MACAU – As reported by the China Standard: "Most Macau concept stocks dived on Thursday on news that the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is querying brokers and scouring company announcements in search of irregularities that might explain the recent dizzying ascent of shares.

"Ironically, the only significant Macau gambling and property counter to resist the downdraft was casino king Stanley Ho's Melco International Development, which is generally acknowledged to have led the rally from the start.

"The SFC, worried about frenzied buying of micro-cap companies that claim to have gambling and hotel-related interests in the booming former Portuguese enclave, has made inquiries of several brokerage houses and pored over recent company announcements, according to market sources.

"…The Macau concept rally kicked off in October after Melco sold new shares to help fund a Macau hotel-casino project and expand its slot-machine business…"

Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho has opened talks with neighbouring Zhuhai about extending his empire into the mainland.

In addition, Ambrose So, director of Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), announced that the government has proposed building an underwater pedestrian tunnel from the site of the recently announced Ponte 16 tourism development in western Macau to Zhuhai, making it easier for mainlanders to reach the Ho project.

Speaking at two events on Monday to unveil details of new projects in Macau, Ho said he has approached Zhuhai officials about expanding Ponte 16 across the border.

Ho did not say what aspects of Ponte 16 might be built on the Zhuhai side, although his son, Lawrence Ho, later dismissed the possibility that the mainland will allow casinos.

``For the next 20 years, we don't see mainland China opening up,'' he said.

The glitzy HK$1.2 billion Ponte 16 project, set to open by the end of 2006, will include a colonial theme park, a luxury hotel and a casino built on the western waterfront of Macau peninsula, facing Zhuhai.

The Ho family is strengthening its mainland links with several initiatives.

Stanley Ho recently agreed to invest in a large tourism project in northeast China. On Monday SJM bought a 49 per cent stake in Zhen Hwa Harbour Construction, the local subsidiary of state-owned China Harbour Engineering, ``building a closer and stronger relationship with Chinese enterprises in Macau'', Ho said.

He said Zhen Hwa will play a leading role in the construction of the HK$3 billion Grand Lisboa extension of his flagship Lisboa casino hotel.

Ho unveiled a model of the elaborate Grand Lisboa, with a 44-storey tower SJM said would resemble either a lotus flower or the feather crown of a revue dancer. An eight-storey sphere-shaped podium containing a casino and restaurants would open at the end of 2006.

SJM director So announced a new ``East-West Cultural Village'' mini-theme park that would take in 50 historical buildings in a former red light district.

So and Ho also unveiled a plan to redevelop the Yaohan department store and the adjacent Jai Lai commercial centre, by the Hong Kong ferry terminal, into a luxury hotel and high-end apartments, along with a casino and shops.

Yaohan would then move into a separate new retail and residential project on Nam Van Lake, near the Lisboa.

So said the Fisherman's Wharf theme park, set to open in July, will include a 70-room hotel and a 30,000 square foot convention centre.

Without giving details of his plans, Ho said another redevelopment project would take in the Hyatt Regency hotel on Taipa island.

Ho broke ground on Monday of a HK$1.5 billion project to build a Park Hyatt casino hotel between the Regency and the New Century hotel casino.

The 32-storey Park Hyatt tower will be a curved line like the planned Wynn Resorts casino hotel going up next to the Lisboa.

In a departure from convention, the hotel's lobby will be on the top floor. A conical-shaped podium topped by a volcano-like fountain of flame with a casino will open first, in mid 2006.

SJM's parent company will hold a 30 per cent stake in the Park Hyatt, with the balance held by a joint venture between Lawrence Ho's Melco International Development and Publishing & Broadcasting Limited (PBL) of Australia.

PBL chief executive John Alexander said his company is content to enter Macau through the joint venture because officials have indicated they will tightly restrict the number of sub-concessions that SJM and the other two companies holding government gaming concessions may issue.

That would be bad news for United States gaming group Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, whose president told the New York Post on Sunday that he hoped to make a deal to enter the enclave's gaming market.

Macao's major foreign trade index grew by double-digits in the first 10 months, which were driven bya weak US dollar and strong consumption demand.

According to the latest figures released by the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau, the total exports comprising domestic and re-exports, amounted to 18.71 billion patacas (2.3 billion US dollars), an increase of 10.7 percent on the same period of last year.

Macao's exports were bolstered by the weak US dollars, which made local exports more competitive in the markets of European and other Asian countries. Meanwhile, Macao's total value of imports reached 22.81 billion patacas (2.8 billion US dollars), indicating a year-on-year increase of 26.8 percent. The massive growth was driven by a strong local consumption demand, as income rises on the back of the spectacular economic growth.

Textiles and garments made up 80.2 percent of Macao's total exports in the first 10 months. The United States and the European Union took up 49 percent and 21.4 percent of Macao's total exports. Meanwhile, China's mainland and Hong Kong had a combined share of 55.3 percent in Macao's total imports.

China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has made a good example of how a small city could look beyound its geographic limit to seek economic development.

With a land coverage of some 27 square kilometers, Macao is among the world's smallest economies. The narrow space and lack of resources doubtlessly limit the development of Macao.

Chief Executive of the Macao SAR, Edmund Ho Hau Wah recalled that he proposed the policy of "befriending the distant and in harmony with the neighbor" in his first Policy Address delivered in 1999, the year when the SAR government was founded.

Over the past five years, the policy has yielded a material result in bridging the small market with China's vast hinterland for sharing resources and engaging in economic cooperation. Meanwhile, the policy has a noteworthy effect in expanding Macao's trade links with Portuguese-speaking countries and overseas Chinese the world over as well as its traditional export markets in American and the European Union.

Fully recognized Macao's weak point, the chief executive has frequently visited countries in Asia, Africa as well as Europe including Portugal, France and the headquarters of European Union over the past five years to introduce Macao's economic, commercial and cultural development to the world while seeking and expanding economic and trade opportunities.

As a free-trade area and independent tariff zone under the World Trade Organization, Macao has economic and trade relations with over 120 countries and regions, with its main export markets in America and the European Union as well as close trade ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.

To reinforce its role as a platform for promoting China's foreign trade with the world, Macao invited hundreds of elite Chinese entrepreneurs to a summit in October 2002 to discuss trade cooperation. During the meeting, the World Federation of Chinese Entrepreneurs Organization was established with its permanent office set up in Macao.

In October, 2003, the First Forum of Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries was opened in Macao, which indicated the Central Government's recognition of Macao's role in bridging China's trade ties with the resource-rich Portuguese-speaking countries.

An initial result to that endeavor was yielded at the ninth Macao International Trade and Investment (MIF) in October this year. All seven members of the forum from Portuguese-speaking countries brought their home-made agricultural products, food and handicrafts to the fair, which drew 70 trade delegations from over 30 countries and regions, and saw a record high contractual volume worth some 3.8 billion patacas (about 475 million US dollars).

From this year, MIF has evolved into a trade platform for enterprises from China's mainland and Portuguese-speaking countries, as it was the first major international trade event held in Macao after the implementation of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) on Jan. 1 this year.

President of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute said that the effect of CEPA and the establishment of regional cooperation framework in the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region (PPRD) earlier this year have expanded Macao's business scope and enhanced the importance of MIF.

The SAR government has taken an active part in the conglomeration of the PPRD cooperation, which is China's largest regional cooperation structure.

As for the role of Macao SAR in the PPRD cooperation, local analysts said although Macao is small in size, it has its own advantage and can exert an important influence on the regional cooperation.

Making steady progress in social and economic development after its return to the motherland in 1999, the SAR is currently enjoying a good environment for attracting investors, and is willing to be an intermediate assisting the other PPRD members in introducing foreign capital, and introduce China's mainland enterprises into the world market via its global trade links.

Other New Entertainment Projects in Macau

Macau Fisherman Craft - First theme park in Macau and opens in July next year.

16 Po - A theme Park locates near the inner harbour and opens at the end of 2006

Grand Lisboa Entertainment Center - A 8 floors shopping malls and restaurants.

Grand Lisboa - 44 floors hotel and shopping malls

Fuk Long Street - Chinese and Western cultural mix village with a 650 rooms hotel

Park Hyatt Macau - 32 floors hotel next to the Grand Lisboa hotel

New Yaohan Shoppnig Mall will increase to 6 floors and additional two service apartments build at the top of the building.

Additional hotels with 50000 rooms will be complete in the next 5 years in Cotai

Two service apartments

U.S. gaming company Las Vegas Sands Inc. wants to build six more hotels that include some casinos in an area of the southern Chinese gambling enclave of Macau it hopes to model after the Las Vegas Strip.

Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macau casino in May and is building the Macau Venetian Casino Resort on the territory's reclaimed Cotai area, which the company has touted as the "Las Vegas Strip of Asia."

Now the gaming operator has submitted a proposal to Macau's government to build six more hotel resorts in Cotai, some of which will have casinos, Las Vegas Sands said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted Wednesday.

However, Las Vegas Sands is seeking partners to finance and build the hotels and will only operate the casinos in them through subsidiaries, the filing said.

Hong Kong property group Far East Consortium International Ltd. signed on earlier this month to build one of the casino-hotels, Las Vegas Sands said.

That complex will house 2,000 rooms - with a possible expansion to 3,000 rooms - and a casino/showroom of about 140,000 sq. feet. It wasn't immediately clear how much the project will cost.

It is due to be completed within half of year of the Macau Venetian Casino Resort, which is currently slated for a 2007 opening.

Macau's gambling scene has seen new life as Las Vegas gaming operators set up shop in the territory after the local government ended a four-decade gaming monopoly held by tycoon Stanley Ho in 2002. Other than Las Vegas Sands, Las Vegas operator Steve Wynn, is scheduled to open the Wynn Macau by the end of 2006.

Ho has responded with a bevy of new casino and theme park projects.

Thousands of Hong Kong and Chinese gamblers who have no casinos at home flock to Macau for gambling. The former Portuguese colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1999, is located 40 miles west of Hong Kong.

Launching a full-court press against his new competitors from Las Vegas, gambling tycoon Stanley Ho has unveiled casino and theme park projects in the gambling enclave of Macau, where he once held a four-decade monopoly.

Headlining Ho's upgrade plan is the hotel-casino complex Grand Lisboa, featuring a diamond-like structure with a golden 40-plus floor high-rise shaped like a lotus flower in the background -- a glitzy alternative to Ho's existing casino flagship, the Lisboa.

The 3 billion Macau patacas (US$400 million; euro 300 million) complex will house 650 hotel rooms, Ho's Macau Gaming Co. said in a statement obtained Tuesday. A company spokesman said the number of gambling tables hasn't been finalized.

The casino portion of Grand Lisboa is scheduled for completion the end of 2006, with the hotel section slated to finish construction the end of 2008.

Separately, Ho broke ground Monday for construction of the Park Hyatt, a joint venture with Australian tycoon Kerry Packer with 240 hotel rooms and 21,000 square meters (230,000 square feet) of gambling space containing 200 gambling tables and 1,300 slot machines.

The shine on gaming stocks finally may be wearing off as two Hong Kong-listed companies saw their shares fall after making Macau-related announcements.

After a quick spike up to HK$1.23 at the market opening, shares of A-Max Holdings sank 6.5 per cent after the electronics manufacturer said on Wednesday it would pay a whopping HK$640 million for an 8 per cent stake in the extension of the casino in the New Century Hotel now under construction on Taipa island. A-Max shares had been suspended since November 30 when they reached a 52-week high of HK$1.07. The shares traded at 51 cents just a month ago.

Shares of Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development and joint-venture partner Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) of Australia also dropped from their peaks after Melco said they plan to list the venture on Nasdaq in the United States by June 30.

Melco's stock declined 2.4 per cent. PBL's Sydney-listed shares dipped 1.2 per cent from their 52-week high Tuesday to A$15.92.

Reflecting the market's dismay, SBI E2-Capital head of equities Raymond Jook, in Hong Kong, said the listing of the joint venture would dilute returns for existing Melco shareholders.

The venture, which is still pending regulatory approval, will initially take over Melco's slot-machine operations in Macau and absorb Melco's stake in the HK$1.5 billion Park Hyatt casino hotel project for which the partners broke ground on Monday next to the New Century. The casino is set to open in mid-2006.

Two marine tunnels are being considered to link the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in South China's Guangdong Province to the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Both sides are now conducting feasibility studies for early stages of the two projects, an official from the Zhuhai Municipal Development and Reform Commission said yesterday.

But the official did not provide further details on the two projects.

The Zhuhai and Macao governments have not reached any agreement on the projects, the official told China Daily.

And construction still has to be approved by both Guangdong provincial government and the central authorities before it can begin.

According to Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis News, the planned tunnels are being designed to reach 560 metres and 445 metres.

One of them will be a pedestrian and sightseeing tunnel.

Zhang Hongwei, a local economist, believes the tunnels could help expand the already close economic relationship between Zhuhai and Macao in the future.

The tunnels will become the third entry and exit checkpoint in Zhuhai, helping ease the great pressure at the Gongbei checkpoint that connects Zhuhai with Macao, Zhang said.

Gongbei checkpoint, which is witnessing between 40 million and 50 million passengers a year, has become the second largest land checkpoint in the Chinese mainland. It follows Luohu checkpoint in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that borders the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Luohu checkpoint handles more than 100 million passengers annually.

And Gongbei checkpoint deals with as many as 300,000 passengers a day during its peak periods.

The checkpoint is designed to be able to cope with about 200,000 passengers a day.

The number of passengers who use Gongbei checkpoint to cross the border will continue to gain momentum,Zhang told China Daily.

More and more people in the mainland will be allowed to visit Hong Kong and Macao for their own purposes in the future, Zhang added.

Jiuzhou Port is another exit and entry harbour in Zhuhai. It offers hovercraft service between Zhuhai and Hong Kong.

The Zhuhai and Macao governments have decided to invest large sums of money to build a theme park along the mouth of the Haojiang River where the two sea tunnels are being planned.

The Xiangzhou District government of Zhuhai has decided to invest 4 billion yuan (US$480 million) or 5 billion yuan (US$600 million) to build up the district's Waizai area into ''Zhuhai Bund'' in five to eight years.

Covering an area of more than 500,000 square metres, the bund, featuring shopping centres, restaurants, bars, fountains and other entertainment and leisure facilities, is expected to become a new tourist attraction.

Situated in the southern tip of South China's Guangdong Province, Zhuhai is less than 10 minutes drive from Macao and only 36 nautical miles from Hong Kong.

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. (0242.HK) plans to spend HK$4.5 billion to develop Macau's first large-scale residential, hotel, office and retail complex on its recently acquired waterfront site, the South China Morning Post reports.

Shun Tak Deputy Managing Director Daisy Ho told the Post that the planned investment includes the HK$1.5 billion acquisition cost of the site, next to the Macau Tower in Nam Van district. The site was acquired from Shun Tak Chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun last month.

The project will comprise 800 luxury apartments, a four- to five-star 500-room hotel with a casino, an office complex and a shopping center.

"It will be the first such large-scale comprehensive development in Macau," the Post quotes Ho as saying.

In a bid to capitalize on a projected tourism boom, the hotel will be the first to get off the ground and is slated for completion by 2007, the Post says.

The Post adds the whole development will be completed by 2009.

"The opportunity that has been opened up by this region of Macao is very important, as the economy has not only recovered but also developed with an enormous speed," said visiting Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio here on Monday.

Speaking to Chinese media here on Monday, Sampaio said that Macao's remarkable economic growth since the handover shows the success and achievements made by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government under the leadership of Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah as well as Macao people.

Sampaio said that he was glad that the Portuguese community here also helped in that capacity to show the Chinese principle of"one country, two systems" is workable.

"It has been a practical demonstration to the world that the creation of the principle is very significant, which allows the solution of Hong Kong and Macao's handover. I hope it can be extended elsewhere," said Sampaio.

The president said that the fact that he brought with him a bigdelegation to China was a clear indication that both counties of China and Portugal will continue the political consultation and search for increasing cooperation and convergence at all international levels together.

More than 100 businessmen with Sampaio's delegation attended a trade cooperation forum on Macao Tower Monday morning.

Sampaio said he believed that although the framework of cooperation has been set up, it is the private sector that has to find ways doing mergers and finding partnership.

"I hope their study of opportunities and contacts with Chinese counterparts will contribute to our development of economic ties,"said Sampaio. Enditem

Asiaboyz, you know the prercentage of trade between Portugal and Macao SAR?

I don't know .. cannot find any figures

The Bank of China (BOC) Macao Branch,one of the two banknote printing banks in Macao, on Wednesday showed to the public the new banknotes with a nominal value of 20 patacas, 100 patacas and 500 patacas, respectively.

The new banknotes will start circulation on Thursday, which will be the second issuance of BOC Macao banknotes in Macao after the bank issued the 10-pataca banknote last year, said Zhang Hongyi, general manager of BOC Macao, at a press conference of theMacao Monetary Authority here Wednesday.

Zhang said that the bank will issue the 1,000-pataca banknote later this year.

Anselmo Teng, president of the Macao Monetary Authority, said that Macao has started to update the circulating of banknotes withthose carrying advanced anti-counterfeiting technology since 2003.Each of the new BOC Macao banknotes carries 20 items of anti-counterfeiting earmarks.

BOC Macao's banknotes accounted for 50 percent of the currency in circulation in Macao. The other banknote printing bank is BNU, which is affiliated to the Portuguese financial services group ledby Caixa Geral de Depositos. Enditem

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTX) is interested in bidding for a third-generation telecom license in Macau, The Standard reports.

The report cites Agnes Nardi, the managing director of HTIL unit Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, as saying the heavy flow of people between Hong Kong and Macau offers a good way to boost roaming revenue in data and voice traffic.

The Macau government aims to issue at least two 3G licenses this year and wants to see a service launch by the end of next year, the paper said.

HTIL is a telecommunications spinoff of ports-to-telecom conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (0013.HK), controlled by Hong Kong's most prominent tycoon, Li Ka-shing.

Managers considering expanding operations in Macau, or making personal investments in real estate there, must remain alert to security and reputation risks in the enclave. Here I-OnAsia seeks to assess these risks by answering two questions: “Is Macau a violent place?” and “Are local businesses going completely legit?”

(PRWEB) March 3, 2005 -- I - Is Macau a Violent Place?

I-OnAsia expects that the overall number of violent cases in Macau, as well as the magnitude of the cases themselves, will fall compared to a year ago.

Most likely, this is because with the local economy booming, Macanese gangsters have been far too busy making money by maintaining the peace to resort to violence. Analysis of law enforcement actions in Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangdong against organized crime in the region supports this fact.

In 2004, Hong Kong listed businesses with operations in Macau saw their stocks rise by over 500%, and property investors there have more than doubled their money. In November 2004, the South China Morning Post reported an 18.7% year on year drop in violent cases, which far outpaced the overall decline in the crime rate of 4%. During the first three quarters of 2004, there had also been far less high impact gangland conflict of the type experienced before a 1999 truce brokered between rival gangs and the subsequent incarceration of 14K Triad boss “Broken Tooth” Wan Kuok-Kui. The largest coordinated anti-triad enforcement action in 2004, which was code named Sun Rise and resulted in the arrest of an amazing 1,569 suspected triad members, was aimed at combating vice (such as prostitution, illegal bookmaking, and illicit drugs).

A year ago, I-OnAsia’s analysts expected that the opening of the first western style casinos in Macau in the second half of 2004 would have lead to increased infighting amongst gangs in Macau for the scraps of business remaining at the older establishments. While sources report that the new casinos took as much as one third of all table traffic from the likes of the Lisboa, turf battles between old and new players did not occur. In part this success may be attributed to the efforts of local law enforcement and security personnel at the new casinos. Yet, I-OnAsia anticipates that new security regimes are not robust enough to claim full credit.

Reliable sources state that local triad gangs are finding strategic advantage in delivering vice to patrons at older casinos. The most important of their services appears to be money laundering. China disclosed in March 2004 that RMB20 billion (US$4.1 billion) is being laundered through Macau casinos per annum, and the Far Eastern Economic Review reported that Stanley Ho Hung-Sun and his Sociedade Tourismo de Macau (“STDM”) was at the centre of a “huge multi-million dollar money-laundering scheme” later last year. Further intelligence suggests that Macanese triads have benefited from the disruptive forces of the Internet, and de facto liberalization of bookmaking in the region. Economic growth also appears to be stimulating demand for prostitution, illicit drugs, and counterfeit goods. When business is good, it appears, no one has time to fight.

While violent crime in Macau is at low ebb, the enclave remains a violent place, and reversion to the bad old days remains a possibility. In the first nine months of 2004, Macao Security Forces logged over 600 cases involving violence in Macau, and weapons including steel bars, clubs and knives, were seized during Sun Rise. Indeed, I-OnAsia’s directors have recently investigated subjects engaged in intimidation and extortion in Macau.

If China’s currency becomes freely convertible or if China mounts an anti-money laundering crackdown of the size and scale aimed at combating smuggling in the late 1990s, great hardship would be imposed on beneficiaries of the status quo. Likewise if property prices plunge, or other significant shocks to the economy arise. (One need only look at 2003, when SARS hurt travel and tourism in Macau and crime rose by 9.2% from the prior year, for support of this assessment.)

Separately, it is not inconceivable that personal rivalries or the rise of new players not party to the 1999 truce agreed between the local triads (e.g. the “Little Circle” gangs) could disrupt the peace. Further, future police actions could result in sharp rises in violence. In 2004 there were few tangible enforcement gains made against senior Triad leadership in Macau. Sun Rise resulted in no arrests of dragonheads, or senior office bearers. The only high profile detention was of Wan ally Tommy Li Yiu-Ming, who voluntarily surrendered. With the creation of an anti-corruption watchdog in Macau similar to Hong Kong’s ICAC, and the increased pressure brought to bear by foreign investors on local law enforcement officials to further crack down on criminal activity, it is possible to foresee a day where arrests lead to disruption of the peace agreement and a resumption of gangland violence.

3/3/2005 17:14

Macau's import value in January reached 2.24 billion patacas (about US$280 million), surging by 42.8 percent over the same period of last year.
According to statistics from the Macau Statistics and Census Bureau, Macau's imports from China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan combinedly constituted 53.9 percent of the total, and some 14 percent were from the European Union.
With a land coverage of merely 27 square kilometers, Macau relies heavily on imports. The booming economy bolstered by tourism and gaming industries was attributed to the rising imports of raw materials, ready-made products and consumer products, which all increased by more than 42 percent over the same period of last year.
Macau's trade deficit amounted to 765 million patacas (US$96 million) in January, as compared to 201 million patacas (US$25 million) in the corresponding period of last year.
Macau's total export comprising domestic export and re-export reached 1.48 billion patacas (US$185 million) in January, representing a year-on-year growth of 8 percent. Among them, the value of re-export increased by 52 percent to 376 million patacas (US$47 million).

Wong Ka-chun


March 04, 2005


Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), which operates telecom services in nine emerging markets including Hong Kong, said it is interested in bidding for a third-generation mobile (3G) license in Macau.

The Macau government said Wednesday it aims to issue at least two 3G licenses this year and wants to see a service launch by the end of next year. It did not give further details such as the technical standard it will adopt.

``We want to take a formal testing in [3G] and await the regulator's approval,'' Agnes Nardi, managing director of HTIL unit Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, told a media briefing Thursday.

HTIL, a unit of conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, recorded an operating loss of HK$39 million from Hong Kong and Macau mobile operations in the first half of 2004. It will unveil full-year earnings on Monday.

Nardi said the heavy flow of people between Hong Kong and Macau offered a good opportunity to boost roaming revenue in data traffic as well as voice.

Hong Kong-listed rival SmarTone Communications has also expressed interest in 3G business in Macau.

The two companies entered the Macau mobile market in 2001 after it was deregulated, and Hutchison said its market share has jumped from 20 percent in 2002 to 38 percent now, making it the second-largest mobile carrier.

CTM, a joint venture of Cable & Wireless, Portugal Telecom and Citic Pacific, claims to be the largest mobile carrier but has not released its market share.

Some 97 percent of Macau's population own a mobile phone, making it one of the world's most crowded mobile markets by penetration rate.

On its Hong Kong's mobile business, Nardi said Hutchison Telecom has completed full 3G network coverage for the MTR Airport Express Line and hopes to extend the coverage to Tung Chung Line soon.

The company targets a full coverage of MTR lines by August.

Meanwhile, Hutchison Telecom is offering rebates for 2G and 3G users who switch from other networks to its 3G service. Under the latest offer, those willing to make pair subscriptions to the 3G service with the purchase of LG 8138, Motorola A1000 or E1000 mobile phones, will be entitled to a HK$600 rebate offer in monthly tariff. kc.wong@singtaonewscorp.com

March 6, 2005

Hutchison Telecommunications said it is interested in bidding for a 3G mobile phone license in Macau, reported the Hong Kong Standard. The Macau government aims to issue at least two 3G licenses this year and expects 3G services to launch by the end of next year but did not mention which technology would be adopted.

"We want to take a formal testing in [3G] and await the regulator's approval," said Agnes Nardi, managing director of Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong.

Nardi said the heavy flow of people between Hong Kong and Macau offered a good opportunity to boost roaming revenue in data traffic as well as voice.

Rival SmarTone Communications has also expressed interest in operating 3G business in Macau.

The two companies entered the Macau mobile market in 2001 after it was deregulated.

Macau has a population of around 450,000 and 97% of the inhabitants own a mobile phone.

14/03/2005 by Parthajit

China Unicom, has won a licence to build a 250m yuan ($30m) mobile network in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). This is the telco’s first investment outside mainland China.

In the public bidding held by the Macao SAR government, China Unicom won the concession for operating CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) service in Macao with a 10-year term.

Unicom reportedly won the licence by outbidding Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macao (CTM), SmarTone, Kong Seng Paging Co. Ltd. and Vodatel Holding Ltd.

The company plans to launch the service prior to the opening of the 4th East Asian Games in Macao by the end of October. Unicom informs that it will invest 170m yuan ($20m) to introduce the network, offering only CDMA roaming in the first year before going city-wide with its 2.5G mobile service.

"Macao welcomes more American companies to explore investment opportunities," said Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Tuesday.

Attending the Asia Pacific Council of the American Chambers of Commerce's reception, Ho said that as a gateway for foreign companies to get access to the mainland markets, Macao is particularly an ideal place for setting up cost-effective regional operations.

Ho welcomed American businessmen to enjoy their time in Macao by experiencing its unique cultural diversity and at the same time exploring vast business opportunities.

He said that the United States has been one of the most important trading partners of Macao. Bilateral trade amounted to 1.5 billion US dollars in 2004, representing an annual growth of about 8.3 percent.

Ho said that the Pearl River Delta has become the brightest spot of development in China. Macao's role as the regional trade platform has been further underlined with the implementation of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement as well as last year's initiation of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Co-operation.

The United States is currently the biggest merchandise exports market for Macao. A large amount of American investment is flowing to Macao's gaming industry.

The British Savills on Monday opened its first Macao office offering its expertise in property services in the promising real estate market in Macao.

Speaking at Monday's press conference, Raymond Lee, managing director of Savills, said that in view of the resurgent Macao economy, there has been a growing demand for professional propertyservice providers with international profile and experience.

He forecast that the real estate price in Macao would double inthe coming two years citing the case of the Las Vegas Sands' newest casino investment project on the Taipa Island of Macao, which would lift the real estate price from the current 8,000 patacas (about 1,000 US dollars) per square meters to 20,000 patacas (2,500 US dollars) in two years.

Macao's real estate market has been burgeoning upon the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government's open-up of the gaming market by issuing casino operation concessions in 2002. Soon after the first American casino, the Sands Macao was opened in May last year, there followed the opening of the Midland Realty,a Hong Kong-listed realty company in June 2004, which became the first realty company with overseas investment in Macao.

Lee said that unlike Midland's specialty in consultancy, Savills would place its priority on providing value-added servicesto customers, for example, investment agency, property management,property valuation and development appraisal.

With more than 270 offices around the world, Savills is an international firm listed on the London Stock Exchange. Lee hoped that the Macao business would help double the company's profit in the Asia-Pacific region in the next year.

Macao logged a 37 percent year-on-year increase in visitor arrivals in February, which witnessed the Chinese New Year holiday.

Figures released by the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau on Monday suggested that the number of this year's festival goers from China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Macao surged by 26.2 percent, 48.7 percent and 64.5 percent respectively, from the same period of last year. The total tally of visitor arrivals reached 1.5 million in February.

China's mainland was the largest source market of tourists to Macao, contributing 54.7 percent of all tourists to Macao. Those coming under the mainland's facilitated individual travel schemes to Macao amounted to 463,550, constituting 55.7 percent of all tourists from the mainland.

The bureau's statistics also suggested that among 2.9 million tourists to Macao in the first two months of this year, 52.4 percent did not stay overnight.

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--The China Securities Regulatory Commission is welcoming futures companies in Hong Kong and Macau to take stakes in mainland futures companies to boost the local futures market, the securities regulator said in a newsletter issued Monday.

"It is the first step in the local futures industry's opening-up to overseas investors," the CSRC said.

Under closer economic partnership agreements between mainland China, and Hong Kong and Macau, futures companies in the two cities are allowed to take up to 49% of mainland futures brokerages from this year.

There is no foreign investment in mainland China's futures industry at present. Also, no overseas investment except from Hong Kong or Macau is currently allowed.

The CSRC said it would shortly make public guidelines covering Hong Kong and Macau investment in the mainland futures industry.

According to recent market talk, Hong Kong-based Tai Fook Securities Group Ltd. (0665.HK) is planning to take a 49% stake in a mainland futures firm.

However, the CSRC said in the newsletter it hasn't received an application for an acquisition from Tai Fook Securities.

Stakeholders of the country’s tourism industry, together with their counterparts from other countries, will soon converge in Macau, Asia’s newest exciting destination, where the 54th PATA Annual Conference will be held this year.

With the theme, "Connecting Tourism’s Stakeholders," this flagship event of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the leading authority and advocate on travel to and within Asia Pacific, will be held at the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre from April 17-21.

Expected to attend this landmark event of the world’s travel and tourism industry are Tourism Ministers, leaders of National Tourism Organizations, CEOs, opinion leaders from the public and private sectors of Asia-Pacific’s travel industry, heads of travel industry associations, business, corporations and institutions, representatives of companies conducting businesses in Asia, and travel writers.

Setting the tone for the conference is the opening keynote speaker, Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association, while Vincent Lo, chairman of Shui On Holdings Ltd. from Hong Kong will be the closing speaker. H.E. Mr. Edmund Ho, Chief Executive for the Government of Macau SAR, has been invited to officially inaugurate the conference.

28/3/2005 17:08

Macau's unemployment rate fell to 4. 1 percent in February, touching a new low after a record of 4.5 percent in five years made by the end of last year.
Statistics released by the Macau Statistics and Census Bureau on Monday suggested that by the end of February, the jobless rate dipped to 4.1 percent, which was 1.4 percentage points down from that in the end of 2003.
Macau's unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent in July last year, falling below 5 percent since 1997 for the first time.
The bureau's statistics suggested that Macau's working population totaled 238,000 in the period between December last year and February, among which 9,800 were jobless residents.
Macau's unemployment rate stood at 6.3 percent in 2001, when the economy was gradually recovering from a long period of doldrums. The liberalization of the gaming sector, which took effects last year, has created thousands of new jobs in the gaming city.

By Zach Coleman, Hong Kong Standard
April 8, 2005

Macau's economy grew an amazing 28 percent last year, according to Statistics and Census Service figures.

The inflation-adjusted figures show that Macau's economic growth rate doubled from the strong 14 percent mark achieved in 2003, raising the SAR's gross domestic product to 80.1 billion patacas (HK$77.8 billion) from 62.6 billion.

The fourth quarter produced the slowest growth at 18.1 percent.

As part of this latest report, the bureau raised the figures for the first three quarters of the year by 0.5-2.5 percentage points each.

Macau's net services exports - a category that covers the SAR's gambling and tourism sectors - alone grew as much as the whole economy for the year.

Growth in visitors' gambling spending accounted for 13.1 billion patacas of the improvement. As a result, "gaming exports" represented half of Macau's annual GDP.

Visitors also spent 193.5 million patacas more on accommodation and an extra 4.6 billion patacas on "other services" in 2004.

In addition, Macau gained 1.1 billion patacas in transport exports, a category that includes fees paid by overseas users of the SAR's ports and airport and foreign sales of Air Macau tickets.

Macau's real per-capita GDP grew 25 percent last year to 175,282 patacas.

Gross fixed capital formation grew 37 percent last year to 11.6 billion patacas, driven by increased private investment in equipment and construction projects.

Macau's GDP growth was braked somewhat as its goods trade deficit quadrupled to six billion patacas.

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Macau's economy expanded a record 28 percent last year, boosted by gambling revenue, as companies including Las Vegas Sands Corp. opened casinos after the government ended tycoon Stanley Ho's monopoly.

The economy expanded to 82.7 billion patacas ($10.3 billion), with gambling expenditures contributing half. Gross gambling receipts climbed 44 percent, the Statistics and Census Service said in a statement today. For the fourth quarter, the economy in the southern Chinese city expanded 18.1 percent, it said, without breaking down gambling receipts by quarter.

The annual growth was more than three times the pace in nearby Hong Kong, where the lottery, soccer-betting and horse racing are the only gambling allowed. Visitors to Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, rose two-fifths in 2004 to 17 million as the $240 million Sands Macau and the $62 million Waldo opened. About 57 percent of tourists came from China, where economic growth has bolstered incomes.

``The next challenge for Macau will be to attract customers from around the region, not just China,'' said Tai Hui, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Hong Kong. ``If Macau wants to copy Las Vegas, it has to be a family holiday place. So far, Macau is pretty much just a gambling place.''

Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson said last month that he wants to replicate the theme resorts of Las Vegas on Macau's Cotai Strip, a stretch of reclaimed land about the size of two football stadiums. Adelson aims to fill Cotai in seven to 10 years with casino resorts providing 60,000 rooms.

Transformation

Regal Hotels International Holdings Ltd. is joining Sands to construct the Venetian Macau, Adelson's second casino hotel in the city. InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, Four Seasons Hotels Inc. and Marriott International Inc. are joining Las Vegas Sands to develop a $12 billion gambling strip in Macau.

``I would still expect this year to be a strong year,'' Hui said. ``Clearly, we are going to see even more news establishments in the next year or so. We're going to see a further transformation.''

Macau in March had 17 casinos, 15 of which are run by Ho, who had his 42-year gambling monopoly ended by the government in 2002. The city, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1999, is home to about 465,000 people. Ho is Hong Kong's sixth-richest tycoon according to Forbes latest annual survey with an estimated fortune at $3.6 billion.

The number of visitors from China rose 66 percent to 9.53 million, according to Macau's statistics bureau. Chinese personal incomes rose last year as surging Chinese trade pushed the mainland's economic growth to 9.5 percent.

Per capita disposable income in China's urban areas, home to a third of the nation's 1.3 billion people, rose 7.7 percent to an inflation-adjusted 9,422 yuan ($1,138) last year.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

[Asia News] MACAU, Macau's gross domestic product grew 28 per cent in real terms last year from 2003, the Macau Statistics and Census Service announced on Thursday.

According to the official estimates, Macau's GDP reached a record 82.69 billion patacas (US$ 10.3 billion) last year, and per-capita GDP reached 180,965 patacas (US$22,620) per annum at current prices.

The government's statisticians attributed the huge year-on-year increase in GDP in 2004 to a favourable external environment, including a rosy gaming sector and strong tourist arrivals of 16.67 million last year.

Macau now has 17 casinos, horse and greyhound races and a string of lotteries, tombolas and other types of betting businesses.

The former Portuguese enclave, which has 465,000 residents and measures just 27.3 sq km, is the only city in China where casinos are legal. Tourism and gaming and textile and garment manufacturing are the mainstays of Macau's economy.

Macau's gaming and betting businesses generated a record gross revenue of 42.3 billion patacas last year.

Public and private investment in Macau, coupled with strong exports also helped GDP growth. Since 1999, when Macau reverted from four centuries of Portuguese to Chinese administration, Macau's GDP has grown 68.68 per cent.

MACAO, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The liberalization of Macao's gambling monopoly has yielded fruit by powerfully bolstering the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Special Administrative Region (SAR), which reached 180,965 patacas (about 22,620 US dollars) per-capita in 2004.

Figures released by the Macao Statistics and Census Service on Thursday suggested that the GDP made a giant leap of 28 percent to reach 82.69 billion patacas (10 billion US dollars) in the year 2004, which set a new record in the SAR.

The bureau attributed the growth to the rosy performance of the gaming, tourist industries as well as the increase in infrastructure investment by the government and the private sector, which rose by 36.8 percent year-on-year in 2004.

Macao's total export value amounted to 793 million patacas (99 million US dollars) in February, down 36.5 percent over the same month of 2004.

Figures released by the Statistics and Census Service on Monday suggested that the value of domestic exports decreased 42 percent to 529 million patacas (66 million US dollars), and the value of re-exports also went down 21.6 percent to 264 million patacas (33 million US dollars) in February.

The statistics showed that in the first two months of 2005, the value of textile and garment exports, which accounted for 73.8 percent of total exports, decreased 16.1 percent over the same period of 2004. Moreover, the value of non-textile exports also went down 4.3 percent.

America and the EU remained as Macao's major export markets, together making up 62 percent of the total export value. Among this,exports to the United States, which made up 46.5 percent of the total export value, decreased 4.9 percent in value over the same period of 2004, while exports to the EU also decreased 51.5 percent during the period.

Macao SAR Government

Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), southern China, was visited in 2004 by 16.67 million tourists, who spent an average 1,633 Macao patacas ($204/158 euro) per person in the city, the Macao Statistics and Census Service reported.

The 2004 visitors figure was a record-high for Macao and was 40 pct higher compared with 2003. Per capita spending in 2004 increased 8.0 pct year-on-year.

Visitors from Mainland China accounted for 57 pct of all visitors and arrived mostly by land. Visitors from Hong Kong, across the Pearl River Delta, ranked second with a 30 pct share and arrived mostly by sea.

Some 3.52 million of the Mainland China visitors travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, which is available only to the relatively affluent Chinese.

Same-day visitors totalled 8.35 million, about half of all arrivals.

Visitors organised in package tours grew 64 pct year-on-year to 2.52 million in 2004.

Out of the total visitors figure, arrivals by land stood at 9.51 million, up 57 pct year-on-year. Arrivals by sea ranked second with 6.3 million, up 22 pct. Arrivals by air totalled 862,000, up 32 pct year-on-year.

Overnights in the city grew 30 pct year-on-year to 3.96 million for 2004. The average duration of stay in Macao was 1.22 nights and the hotel occupancy in the city averaged 75.6 pct in 2004, up from 64.3 pct in 2003.

Mainland China visitors were the biggest spenders in Macao with an average spending of 2,991 patacas ($374/290 euro) per visitor. Visitors arriving by air had an average spending of 4,882 patacas ($610/473 euro), visitors arriving by sea averaged 1,372 patacas ($171/133 euro) and visitors entering by land spent 1,569 patacas ($196/152 euro).

The average per capita non-shopping spending (also excluding gaming expenses) stood at 885 patacas ($111/86 euro) per visitor in 2004, up 6.0 pct year-on-year.

A total 212,000 Macao residents travelled abroad on package tours in 2004, up 35 pct year-on-year.

The upcoming 54th Annual Conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in Macao later this month has been highly expected to be a springboard to help in the making of the convention industry in the city.

As the only gaming city in China, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has cherished the dream of shaping up of a convention industry for quite some time, since the tactic of combining the gaming and convention industries has proved to be a successful mode by America's gaming center of Las Vegas.

Macao boasting fancy gaming tables, slot machines, and most important of all, luxury hotel facilities, has already become a major tourist magnet in the Asian region.

"The PATA annual conference will offer Macao a good chance to demonstrate its overall ability to accommodate large scale conventions," said Fernando Chui Sai On, secretary for social affairs and culture here Wednesday.

The conference, to be held here from April 17 to 21, will convene ministerial-level tourist officials from 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region and over 50 renowned scholars to share their thoughts and experiences, and hundreds of interested personages from the region.

Speaking at the general meeting of the PATA Host Committee on Wednesday, Chui said that the Macao SAR government has laid down clear directives to develop gaming and tourism industries and make Macao an international convention, exhibition and recreational center.

"Under the flagship of the gaming industry, Macao has entered a new stage of development with many large scale tourism and entertainment projects unfolded including the construction of the thematic travel facilities and related works underway," said Chui indicating that time is ripe for Macao to stretch out to test its charm in attracting international conventions and meetings.

As visitor arrivals to the SAR surpassed 16.67 million in the year 2004, the SAR government has become increasingly aware of theimportance of polishing a good image of Macao as a healthy and safe tourist destination.

The SAR's tourist authority has introduced a new word MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) in summing up the city's new trend of tourist development. Eva Lo Tak Wah, chairperson of the Prime International Conference Exhibition (Beijing) Co. Ltd. is the first Macao entrepreneur to set up a solely-funded firm in Beijing.

The convention organizer believed that the convention industry will soon become a new growth pole of Macao's economy, which is now mainly bolstered by the gaming and tourist industries.

Tourism and gaming industries are two of Macao's economic pillars. The SAR government reaped 14 billion patacas (1.75 billion US dollars) in gaming tax in 2004, after liberalizing the gaming sector in 2002.

Born in Macao, Lo, the veteran businesswoman is not at all interested in the gambling business, which has over 100 years of history, but she believes that the gaming and tourism industries are leading the economy to a new stage of prosperity. She just hoped that the booming convention industry would not only help optimize the economic structure but also polish the city's image.

HONG KONG: Macau's Galaxy casino is listing here through a US$2.4bil deal with an affiliated construction firm, capitalising on investor interest in the former Portuguese colony's gambling boom.

K. Wah Construction Materials Ltd, a company controlled by Hong Kong's Lui family, said yesterday it would buy Galaxy for HK$18.41bil (US$2.36bil) and change its name to Galaxy Entertainment Group.

The company, which started as a quarry operation in 1964, will become the first Hong Kong–listed casino operator and nearly triple its market value with the deal. Its shares jumped 16.5%, giving it a market value of HK$13bil – almost 400 times last year's earnings.

“This stock will turn into a real gambling stock – not just a concept stock,” said Sun Hung Kai Research strategist Castor Pang.

Macau, the only place in gambling-mad China where casinos are legal, has seen an investment and tourism boom since tycoon Stanley Ho's 40-year gaming monopoly lapsed in 2002. China's relaxing of travel restrictions for residents helped as well.

Competition in Asia for gambling-related tourism heated up on Monday when Singapore cleared the way for two casino resorts. But K. Wah founder Lui Che Woo dismissed the challenge.

“There's no comparison with Macau. Singapore isn't doing it in a big way,” said 75-year-old Lui, who was born in Guangdong province.

Visitors from the mainland and nearby Hong Kong are arriving in droves to try their luck at Macau's 17 casinos. Some analysts say 2005 gaming income will surpass that of the Las Vegas Strip.

“Don't be surprised if in the next 10 years you hear Las Vegas referred to as America's Macau,” Galaxy chief executive Anthony Carter said.

Carter said gaming revenues in Macau had grown 30% in the last three years to US$5bil in 2004, against 4% growth in Las Vegas, which made US$5.3bil last year. – Reuters

With new casino business running on track of a steady growth, the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP in China's Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) may slow down its fast speed recorded last year, said a senior official here on Tuesday.
Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economic and finance, said that bolstered by the ideal increase in the number of visitor arrivals, Macau's gaming revenue is expected to sustain a steady growth this year, although the speed of growth may slow down, compared to that in the second half of last year, said Tam.
The de-facto liberalization of Macau's gambling monopoly last year has yielded fruits by powerfully fostering a giant leap in the GDP growth by 28 percent, which reached 82.69 billion patacas (US$10 billion) in the year 2004 setting a new record in the SAR.
Tam said that two new casino operators that launched their business here in the middle of last year brought in new concept of growth mode for Macau's century-old gaming industry.
The SAR's GDP reached 180,965 patacas (about US$22,620) per-capita in 2004, surpassing Singapore to rank third in Asia.
Tam said that it is normal and rational for the economic growth to slow down a little bid at this stage. The SAR government has never pursued a high GDP growth rate, but a true improvement of residents' overall living quality.
He attributed the unprecedented high growth rate last year to the rosy performance of the gaming, tourist industries as well as the increase in infrastructure investment by the government and the private sector, which rose by 36.8 percent year-on-year in 2004.

Macao logged a 59.6 percent year-on-year increase in group visitors in February, which witnessed the Chinese New Year holiday.

Figures released by the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau on Tuesday suggested that the number of this year's festival goers from China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Macao surged by 46.5 percent, 150 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively, from the same period of last year. The total tally of group visitors reached 194,322 in February.

China's mainland was the largest source market of group tourists to Macao, contributing 147,384 tourists to Macao in February.

The statistics also showed that with five new hotels coming offstream, the number of hotel rooms grew by 10 percent year-on-year to reach 10,181 in February, which lodged 288,249 hotel guests in the month. The averaged hotel occupancy rate amounted to 65.4 percent during the period.

News from the Economic Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region says that thanks to the Close Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) export to mainland increased considerably this year. Export in the first three months has already mounted to 170 percent of the export in 2004.

Signed on October 17, 2003 the CEPA created more opportunities and more favorable conditions for Macao goods to enter the mainland market. It consists of three parts including facilitation of trade in goods, facilitation trade in service and facilitation of investment. In October 2004 a supplementary agreement was signed to increase types of goods enjoying zero tariff from 311 to 501.

Over 200,000 visitors from the Chinese mainland are expected to flush in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the mainland's facilitated individual travel (FIT) scheme during the upcoming May Day holiday.

The Macao SAR government would make an all-out endeavor to deal with the large passenger flow during the week-long holiday, said Manuel Pires, deputy director of the Macao Tourist Office in a joint press conference held by the Tourist Office, the Health Service, the Customs and the Public Security Police Bureau on Thursday.

Pires said that based on the past experiences in handling "Golden Week Travel," the tourist authority expected some 312,000 mainland tourists to make trips to Macao during the week-long holiday. Among them, 64 percent or some 200,000 tourists would come under FIT scheme.

Pires said that the Macao Tourist Office would activate a notification mechanism with its counterpart in Guangdong Province during the holiday reporting the number of tourist arrivals to Macao as well as hotel room rate and price on a daily basis, which is expected to help control the passenger flow.

The small city with a mere land coverage of less than 30 square kilometers is under a heavy pressure from handling vacation travelers during three long holidays, namely the Chinese New Year in February, the Labor Day in May and the National Day in October.

With a population of 460,000, it hosts over 16 million visitor arrivals last year with over half of them from China's mainland.

The Chinese mainland has issued 5.46 million individual travel passes to the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) by the end of February, a senior Chinese official said in Macao on Monday.

Wang Liaoping, director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Department of the Ministry of Commerce said that the economic and trade relations between the mainland and Macao are in the best time in history.

The Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement in effect since the beginning of 2004 has ensured facilitated cooperation in finance, tourism and professional qualification attestation, said Wang at the Seminar of "the Strategic Development and Opportunities of the Economic Integration among Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao," which opened in Macao on Monday.

The mainland and Macao have facilitated bilateral trade and investment policies with the trade volume between the two sides jumping 24.7 percent to reach US$1.8 billion in 2004. The two sides will realize free cargo trade before 2006, said Wang.

By the end of March, the Macao Economic Bureau has issued 113 certificates of product origin, which help save 518,000 patacas (US$64,750) of tariff on Macao's export to the mainland. The bureau also issued 199 service provider certificates allowing Macao investors to invest in cargo surrogating, transportation, warehouse, telecoms and retailing business in China's mainland.

HONG KONG (AP) - Macau's economic expansion slowed to 8.5 percent on year in the first quarter of 2005, the government said Tuesday, as tourism growth eased and textile exports collapsed after the end of the global quota system in January.

The number was much lower than the 18.1 percent growth reported in the fourth quarter of 2004. But the government played down the slowdown, saying gross domestic product had just resumed expanding at a normal rate more typical of pre-boom years.

Tourism and gambling were still the driving forces of the red-hot Macau economy, which grew 28 percent last year. There has also been a surge in construction of new hotels and casinos to cash in on the Chinese tourist trade.

In the first quarter of 2005, visitor arrivals to Macau rose 19 percent to 4.46 million, slightly less than the 4.48 million who came in the fourth quarter. Most of the visitors came from mainland China and Hong Kong, where casino gambling isn't permitted.

Yet many tourists appeared to be spending less enthusiastically than before. Per-capita visitor spending excluding gambling fell 0.5 percent in the first quarter, and total visitor spending was up just 3.6 percent, the government said.

Gambling receipts rose 11.7 percent in the first quarter, significantly slower than the 28.2 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Furthermore, textile and garment exports, which account for nearly three-quarters of Macau's exports, fell 22 percent in the first quarter of 2005 compared with the same period of 2004. Many smaller textile exporting regions -- including neighboring Hong Kong -- have seen their trade decline dramatically this year as the removal of quotas allowed producers to ship more from lower-cost locations in China.

The resulting 8.5 percent real expansion in Macau's gross domestic product for the quarter, while still very fast by the standards of major economies, was nonetheless the slowest since 2003, when the regional tourist trade was hit by the outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The Macao SAR government on June 3 introduced the revised supplementary income tax (SIT) system, designed to reduce the financial burden of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and improve their business environment.

Under the SIT regime, one-third of Macao's SMEs will be exempt from the tax, while 2,700 of them will pay 25 per cent to 50 per cent less tax and 17,000 will have their tax burden slashed by more than 50 per cent.

Analysts were quick to applaud the government's latest move, saying the new tax regime would help attract more overseas investors and give non-profiting enterprises a better chance to survive and rebound.

Assistant Professor of Macao Polytechnic Institute's Public Administration Programme Sunny Chan said Macao's new tax system was very attractive and quite daring, considering that not even Hong Kong and Singapore had gone that far to help the struggling SMEs.

Macao Society of Accountants president Leong Kam-chun, too, praised the SIT system as a well-rounded tax discount package that would make all tax-paying business owners happy.

Leong said the latest government move was a follow-up to last year's cuts on salary tax to narrow the gap between tax burdens of employers and employees.

But he warned the government against offering more such tax reductions because Macao's tax rates were already among the lowest in the region. It would be more beneficial to Macao's long-term growth if the authorities keep the tax system and revenue basis stable, he said.

In Macao Special Administrative Region, gross domestic product rose by 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2005.

Compared with the same period last year, Macao's export volume dropped while imports increased with growing demand.

Individual expenditures also rose in the first three months of this year.

The booming tourism industry in Macao has contributed to the GDP rise.

The Hong Kong and Macau governments plan to discuss a comprehensive double taxation agreement with the hope of finalising it as soon as possible, the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau says.

Clauses will be included to facilitate the exchange of relevant tax information between the two sides so tax-enforcement authorities can combat tax-avoidance activities more effectively, the bureau added.

In a statement today, the bureau welcomed Monday's announcement of the Macau government's modification of its Offshore Institution Regime, to cope with Macau's recent developments

It is conducive to co-ordinating a balanced development in the Greater Pearl River Delta and eliminating the imbalances in tax competition within the region, it said.

Hong Kong practises a territorial basis of taxation: Only profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong from a trade, profession or business carried on in Hong Kong are chargeable to profits tax.

As for the tax avoidance arrangements that make use of overseas companies, the Inland Revenue Department is constantly on the lookout for improper transactions resulting in possible loss of revenue to Hong Kong.

There are anti-avoidance provisions in the Inland Revenue Ordinance and well-established procedures for assessing whether Hong Kong companies have siphoned off profits improperly to offshore affiliates, as well as clear stipulations on the penalties for such offences.

Regime aimed to help Macau's commercial development

The former Macau government introduced the Macau Offshore Institution Regime in 1999, reflecting the then economic conditions, before the Macau SAR Government was established.

The regime was to help develop Macau into an offshore commercial centre.

Available concessions under the scheme include the exemption of profits tax, business tax and stamp duty on purchase of offices by offshore institutions; and the exemption to professional tax (equivalent to salaries tax of Hong Kong) on the offshore institution's non-Macau resident managers and specialised technicians for the first three years.

Qualifying offshore institutions must pursue the offshore activities indicated in a table approved by a decision of the Macau Chief Executive.

Effective June 14, 2005, (the day after the Administrative Order was published), the scope of the approved offshore activities is restricted from the original 20 items to eight items, which are mainly technical support activities.

The latest statistics from Macau show an economic slowdown, but observers describe the trend as a temporary setback and a sign of healthier growth.

The explosion of mainland tourist arrivals appears to be reaching a plateau, with package-tour visitor arrivals from the mainland dropping 14.1 per cent year on year in April to 189,000.

In the first quarter of the year, the number of mainland visitors rose only 13.5 per cent year on year to 2.48 million, marking the lowest growth rate since the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2003 and since the solo travel scheme started.

"This could be a warning alarm, especially if the trend continues in the long run," said Patrick Ho Wai-hong, assistant professor of economics at the University of Macau.

Hotel occupancy rates are also falling. Occupancy of the city's 10,636 rooms slipped to 65.67 per cent in the first quarter, the lowest since Macau recovered from the Sars outbreak.

Industry sources say if the higher occupancy rates on Fridays and Saturdays of about 70 to 80 per cent are taken into account, this means some hotels, especially four- and five-star ones, are half-empty during the rest of the week.

But Karman Yeung Ka-man, vice-chairman of the Macau Hotels Association, said slipping occupancy rates were due partly to the rising number of rooms. "The number of hotel rooms jumped, so it's just natural that a full house doesn't occur as often as before," he said. The number of hotel rooms rose 14 per cent from last year.

The worrying signs for the tourism industry occur against a background of slowing economic growth. For the first time since the Sars outbreak, Macau's gross domestic product growth has fallen to single digits in the first quarter at 8.5 per cent.

While deflation persisted from 1999 until last June, the April 2005 consumer price index rose 3.22 per cent year on year.

"Data from one quarter or one month is too insignificant to judge the overall health of an economy," said Professor Ho.

Consultant Kelvin Tan, of Manila-based gaming consultancy Sinorex, believes mainland visitors will continue to flock to Macau.

"When you see mainland visitors arriving in Macau and running from the ferry to the immigration lines, that shows you their propensity to gamble," he said.

"Those are the gamblers who cannot waste one minute getting to the tables, and they will keep coming."

51.2 percent of the visitors from the Chinese mainland to Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) were under the Individual Visit Scheme, according to official statistics issued on Tuesday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the number of visitor arrivals in the SAR totaled 1,539,534 in May 2005, representing a year-on-year increase of 16 percent.

Compared with in May last year, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan increased 7.3 percent, 18.8 percent and 47.8 percent respectively, according to the statistics.

A public survey here Tuesday showed that 58.4 percent of the respondents are satisfied with the present economic situation in Macao.

According to the Macao Residents Social Situation Assessment Survey, jointly-launched by the Union for Construction of Macao and the University of Hong Kong, 17 percent of the respondents are not satisfied with Macao's economy.

Twenty-one percent described the economy as "so-so,"

The Brazilian government said Wednesday that Macao can serve as a platform through which Brazilian products can enter the Chinese market.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva welcomed the role of the Chinese special administrative region in the development of economic and trade relations between Brazil, China and other Portuguese-speaking countries, said Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Lula has vowed to reinforce relations with Macao through the Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry, Ho told a press conference after talks with Lula.

Brazil and Macao have planned to hold working meetings to make use of Macao's advantages, especially on language and trade, so asto increase Brazilian exports to the Chinese market, he added.

Macao, a former Portuguese colony, will hold a ministerial meeting of Portuguese-speaking countries in September, together with a fair.

After talks with Lula, Ho also met Senate President Renan Calheiros.

Macao's composite consumer price index (CCPI) in May rose 3.68 percent from the same period of lastyear, according to official statistics issued on Thursday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the index grew 3.31 percent in the first five months from the sameperiod of last year.

The rise was mainly due to increases in housing rents and rising prices of interior decoration, summer garments, footwear and fresh vegetables, according to the statistics.

As if Las Vegas developers weren’t expanding their own city’s offerings quickly enough, now one of them is preparing to build a copy of the Vegas Strip’s Venetian Resort on Macau, a Chinese island off of Hong Kong.

The 10.6-million-square-foot, 3,000-room hotel and casino is being developed by Las Vegas Sands, and like the original, will feature replicas of Venice landmarks like the Doges Palace, the Rialto Bridge, and several famed palazzos. It will be roughly three times the size of the Vegas version. HKS principal Jeff Jensen, whose firm is designing the project along with Wilson and Company, says the complex will be, “like a Venetian on steroids.”

The resort will include over 1,500 feet of retail-lined canal, which is three-times the length of the Vegas version. Its 500,000-square-feet of gaming is five times the area of the original, and the complex will also contain a 15,000-seat arena. Jensen says that his clients chose this tested theme instead of one of the modern designs that many Vegas developers are using. “We said, ‘why recreate the wheel?’”

Macau was once a Portuguese colony, and has long been the center of China’s gambling world, but until recently has been rife with crime and poverty. Developers, mostly from Las Vegas, are hoping to change that by developing the “Cotai Strip,” a line of high-end casinos. which is being master-planned by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill and EDAW (RECORD, October 2003, page 38). The market looks strong. Jensen says that when his client’s Sands casino opened on Macau, visitors literally tore its doors off.

MACAU -- The way Macau property prices are soaring while rows of new apartment blocks stand nearly empty, investors could be forgiven for thinking that the mushrooming casino business is providing the gas for a property bubble.

The former Portuguese enclave on China's southern tip has drawn speculative flows from Shanghai, which is being officially cooled after an explosion of real estate investment, and Hong Kong, where rising interest rates are starting to bite.

Macau developers can still sell sparkling high-rise blocks in just a couple of weeks, but buyers are taking a big risk. There is hardly any rental market -- only around one-tenth of new apartments inhabited.

"There's a tremendous feeling of a gold-rush town," said Elaine Young, chief executive of Hong Kong serviced-apartment firm Shama, which is looking to expand into Macau.

"The property market has risen outrageously."

Apartment prices rose 50 percent last year. Property agents predict the same in 2005, and analysts at investment bank Merrill Lynch expect the cost of an apartment to double in three years.

But the rampant speculation, mostly by people from Hong Kong and the rest of China, is based on economic fundamentals.

Gross domestic product grew 28 percent last year thanks to a 40-percent jump in tourists visiting the only place in China where casinos are legal. Per capita gross domestic product for Macau's 465,000 residents rose to the level of New Zealand's from that of Slovenia in just one year.

Officials predict 20 million visitors will pour in this year, one-fifth more than in 2004.

Investors are betting there will be a bigger boom in 2007, with the opening of the first phase of the Cotai Strip of opulent casinos, plush hotels and shopping malls, which is being built on about 5 square kilometers of land reclaimed from the silt-clogged Pearl River delta.

The 60,000-room, seven-casino, three-phase project was dreamed up by Las Vegas gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson. Hoteliers involved include Hilton Group, Marriott International and Four Seasons Hotels.

"I don't see a bubble," said Gregory Ku, head of property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle in Macau, who has privately invested in two Macau apartments.

"A bubble means there are no good things to support the market. But Macau has many."

China could clamp down on loan sharks that fund gambling trips, and some analysts say competition from Singapore's planned casinos could stack the odds against another Macau boom.

But the demands of the industry itself, regardless of its success, are having an impact.

"Until the casinos raised their glamorous heads, there was no need for serviced apartments," Young said. "Now there will be human resources people, entertainers, people to run the hotels and convention business, designers, architects, civil engineers."

The excitement began in 2002, when Macau ended a gaming monopoly held by shipping and gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, who boasts of having once fought off a pirate attack.

A typical 180-square-meter, three-bedroom luxury apartment costs $900,000, but that is still only one-tenth the price of some apartments in Hong Kong, an hour away by ferry or 10 minutes by helicopter.

Authorities are considering market-cooling measures, such as a cut in bank loans to 70 percent of a property's value, from 90 percent, but Merrill Lynch analyst Hillman Wong points out that similar moves in Hong Kong did little to quell speculation there in the 1980s and 1990s.

He expects Macau home buyers to pay up to 188 months' salary for a flat, against 118 months' worth now. At the height of the bubble in Hong Kong in 1997, home buyers paid 440 months' salary.

"People in Macau are getting wealthy, and there's big demand for upgrading accommodation," Wong said.

"Construction workers got 40 to 60 percent pay rises last year. Junior casino dealers will get 13,000 [Hong Kong] dollars [$1,670] a month," compared with Macau's average of 5,500 Hong Kong dollars per month now.

The narrow streets of peninsular Macau are crammed with graying concrete apartment blocks with a smattering of mustard and pink colonial buildings, their arches and shuttered windows remnants of four centuries of Portuguese rule that ended in 1999.

Most of the new construction is on nearby Taipa Island, which is fused by the Cotai Strip to Coloane Island and to mainland China by a causeway.

Only a handful of outside developers, mostly from Hong Kong, have chiseled a foothold in the tight-knit market, including Hopewell Holdings, Shun Tak, Kowloon Development and Far East Consortium.

A joint venture between Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong-listed Pioneer Global and Wachovia managed to buy a 22-story office tower.

"Even if a deal is on the table, people pull it because they are petrified of selling too cheaply," Young said.

Independent shareholders of 139 Holdings, a listed auto equipment maker, have rejected the firm's plan to buy a four-star hotel in Macau from China Travel International Investment Hong Kong for HK$500 million.

Some 88.75 percent of independent shareholders who attended the special annual general meeting Monday voted against the acquisition as well as the bond sale to China Travel as part of the deal, said the company.

139 Holdings offered to buy Hotel Grandeur Macau in February for HK$250 million in cash and HK$250 million in convertible bonds.

``The failed approval from shareholders will not have any impact on the existing operations ... We will continue to explore investment opportunities for its future development,'' said 139 Holdings in a statement Tuesday.

Hotel Grandeur Macau is a 26-story hotel with about 350 guest rooms but no casino operations.

139 Holdings said earlier that the acquisition would provide a chance for the firm to tap into Macau's gaming sector-led tourism boom and help it seek future investment opportunities.

The company said proceeds it raised from a HK$62.4 million placement will be changed to general capital instead of funding the proposed acquisition.

China Travel could have become 139 Holdings' largest shareholder after it swapped the bonds sold by the company to pay for the hotel.

139 Holdings' three executive directors - Howard Wong, Wong Yat-fai and Wu Qing - hold a combined 5.64 percent stake in the company.

Two companies listed on the main board, Radford Capital Investment and Heritage International Holdings, each hold 8.19 and 5.85 percent, respectively.

Macao recorded 1.56 million hotel guests in the first five months, a marginal increase of 0.9 percent over the same period of last year, according to official statistics issued here on Wednesday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the total of 75 hotels logged 329,184 guests in May alone, a year- on-year rise of 4.6 percent, while the average room occupancy rate fell 4.1 percentage points to 67 percent over the same month of last year.

Travelers from the Chinese mainland made up 55.7 percent of all hotel guests in May, followed by those from Hong Kong, 27.9 percent and Taiwan, 3.3 percent, according to the statistics.

Source: Xinhua

MACAO, July 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union (EU) Commission, told media here on Monday that Macao's 28-percent gross domestic product rise in last year is "very impressive."

The EU chief hailed Macao's growing role as "a platform" for the booming cooperation between China and EU.

Barroso reviewed his China tour starting from Beijing on July 14 and termed his meetings with the Chinese leaders as "a pleasure."

Barroso met with Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region on Monday.

He expressed gratitude to the Macao chief for the invitation and congratulated the latter for the region's recent entry into the World Heritage List.

The former Portuguese prime minister, who arrived here the previous day, visited the local community having Portuguese ancestry Sunday.

He will leave here for Hong Kong later on Monday to continue his five-day China trip, covering cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Macao and Hong Kong.

This is Barroso's first visit to China as president of the EU Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

25/7/2005 15:20

Macau's composite consumer price index (CCPI) rose 3.51 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year, according to an official statistics issued on Monday.
The figures from Macau's Statistics and Census Service showed that the index increased 4.47 percent in June over the same month of last year.
The index rose 1.01 percent between May and June, it showed.
The CCPI is an indicator of whether consumers are paying more or less for goods and services and a measure of inflation or deflation.

Xinhua News

The number of visitors to Macao hit a new record in the first half of this year, with an increase of 15 percent from the same period last year.

Statistics from the Macao Special Administrative Region shows that the city witnesses an influx of 8.92 million tourist from January to June.

The majority of tourists are from Chinese Mainland, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Among the mainland tourists, more than 2.5 million tour Macao on their own.

Macao has a population of less than 470,000, yet the small city hosts more than 10 million visitors each year. Enditem

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)

Luxury hotel operator Shangri-la Asia plans to open a new hotel in Macau, but it's unlikely to include a casino, and would instead offer auxiliary leisure services, cashing in on the territory's gaming-induced tourism boom.

``The opportunities for new hotels in Macau are obviously driven by the casinos, but a hotel doesn't necessarily have to have a casino,'' Shangri-la chief operating officer, Symon Bridle, said. ``We're looking very closely at the opportunities available.''

Bridle said potential revenues to be generated in Macau from hotel accommodation and leisure services could eventually overtake gaming proceeds. ``For example, in Las Vegas, what's spent on hotel rooms and the shows is actually more than casino revenues,'' he said.

``If Macau positions itself correctly as a venue for high-quality leisure services, it can quite easily attract a significant market place,'' Bridle said.

Macau offers Shangri-la opportunities to introduce a deluxe five-star hotel, or a business travelers' hotel under its Traders franchise.

Shangri-la currently operates 47 hotels, including eight Traders hotels, mainly in Greater China and Southeast Asia, and is due to open 33 more in China, India and the Middle East by 2008 at a cost of more than US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion).

More than 20 hotels are being built in Macau, mostly linked to casino interests, which are controlled by four government-sanctioned operators - tycoon Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, US gambling magnate Steve Wynn, US operator Las Vegas Sands, and tycoon Lui Che-woo's Galaxy Group.

Bridle said Shangri-la is still awaiting the ``right market opportunity'' to open a third hotel in Hong Kong, but indicated the group is more inclined to open a Traders hotel here, rather than another five-star hotel.

``In cities where we operate more than one hotel, such as Beijing, we like to have a combination of deluxe and business hotels,'' he said. ``Therefore, it would probably make more sense to open a Traders [in Hong Kong].''

A third Hong Kong hotel for Shangri-la could incorporate service apartments. ``The group doesn't normally look for a standalone service department development,'' Bridle said. ``We tend to offer service apartments as part of a mixed-use development, which would allow us to benefit from joint branding and economies of scale.''

Two of Shangri-la's rivals in Hong Kong - Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons hotels - are shortly to open new five-star hotels which will also combine service apartments.

The new hotel openings won't bring down room rates and occupancy at current hotel operators, Bridle said. ``The additional supply will be quite easily absorbed, as Hong Kong continues to benefit from increased tourist arrivals, especially from China.''

Shangri-la has raised its room rates in Hong Kong by about 20 percent so far this year, Bridle said, but they were accompanied by increased occupancy rates - a sign of the strength of the market.

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Dah Sing Banking Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based lender, agreed to buy most of the Macau-based assets of Portugal's Banco Comercial Portugues SA, tapping into the growing economy of the neighboring city known for its gaming industry.

Dah Sing will pay HK$1.67 billion ($215 million) in cash for Banco Comercial de Macau, the city's third-biggest bank by branches, and 96 percent of its two insurance units, it said in a statement carried in local newspaper today.

``The acquisition will enable (Dah Sing) to enter the Macau market, which is an increasingly affluent market with a growing economy, and to gain significant market share in each of the banking, general insurance and life assurance businesses,'' the company said in a statement.

The move represents the latest purchase in the Hong Kong lender's buying spree, following its parent Dah Sing Financial Holdings Ltd.'s announced investment in a new life insurance venture in China earlier this week and the acquisition of a consumer finance company in Hong Kong in June.

The two insurance units sold by Comercial Portugues, Portugal's No. 2 bank by assets, are Companhia de Seguros de Macau, the city's biggest general insurer, and Companhia de Seguros de Macau Vida, the fifth-biggest life insurer.

The economy in Macau, a city known for its Las Vegas-style casinos, grew 8.5 percent in the first quarter after expanding 28 percent in 2004. The former Portuguese colony changed to Chinese rule in 1999.

More Tourists

The number of visitors to Macau climbed 10 percent in April and 16 percent in May, Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Steven Kent wrote in a research note yesterday.

Banco Comercial Portugues is selling the stakes because it wants to focus on its main markets in Europe, the Oporto-based lender said yesterday in a filing with Portugal's securities regulator.

Dah Sing agreed to buy Pacific Finance for HK$936 million ($120 million) to expand its business in Hong Kong in June. Dah Sing Financial, which owns 78.3 percent of Dah Sing, agreed on Aug. 2 to invest $7.4 million for a 20 percent stake in Great Wall Life Insurance Co. in China.

Dah Sing said it will sell its stakes in the two Macau insurance units to parent Dah Sing Financial, which holds the insurance interests of the group, after the deal is completed.

Macao's merchandise exports dropped while imports rose in the first half of the year, according to official statistics issued here on Wednesday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the value of total exports, comprising domestic and re-exports, recorded a year-on-year drop of 27 percent while the value of imports logged an increase of 3.8 percent.

Textile and garment exports accounted for 72.5 percent of Macao 's total export value in the first six months, the figures showed.

Source: Xinhua

0817 GMT [Dow Jones] Banco BPI says Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP.LB) sale of Macau banking, insurance units a positive, helps boost capital ratios. Price BCP got looks "quite attractive," estimated at 3X price to book value for 04 and 27X PER for 04. "We believe this might be a good short-term trigger for the stock." BCP unchanged at EUR2.10 early. BPI rates stock accumulate. (ETB)

Dah Sing Banking Group, one of Hong Kong's smaller financial institutions, is in talks with banks to arrange up to US$250 million (HK$1.95 billion) of subordinated debt sale, sources familiar with the situation said.

The move comes after Dah Sing Banking announced Wednesday the US$215 million cash acquisition of Banco Comercial de Macau and a 96 percent stake in the lender's two insurance units.

Dah Sing Banking last sold debt in April when Deutsche Bank arranged a 10-year, US$150 million subordinated floating rate note that was priced to yield 62 basis points over the London interbank offered rate.

The bonds were rated ``BBB+'' or three grades above non-investment grade by Fitch Ratings, while Moody's Investor Services rated them a one-notch lower, ``Baa2.'' Standard & Poor's gave the bonds a similar ranking of ``BBB.''

Following that bond sale, the bank's parent, Dah Sing Financial Holdings, paid US$120 million to buy Hong Kong-based consumer finance firm Pacific Finance from JPMorgan and Jardine Matheson.

Subordinated debt has a lesser claim on the assets of a borrower than ordinary bonds, requiring a higher interest rate to attract investors. Holders of the bonds, however, still rank above shareholders in the event of bankruptcy.

Dah Sing Banking, the eighth-largest publicly traded bank in Hong Kong, is part of the larger Dah Sing Group, whose businesses are mainly based in Hong Kong. Dah Sing Banking plans to sell the two Macanese insurers it agreed to buy, Companhia de Seguros de Macau and Companhia de Seguros de Macau Vida, to Dah Sing Financial upon completion of the acquisition. That is expected by the end of the year.

The bank said it wanted to enter the Macau market to capitalize on the strong economic growth the territory had seen since the government liberalized the casino sector.

The gaming market in Macau, where the economy jumped 28 percent last year, attracted Las Vegas gambling heavyweights including Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson who have announced plans for and opened new gaming centers.

The All India Association of Industries (AIAI) said that it has signed an agreement for co-operation with Word Trade Centre, Macau, China.

Vijay Kalantri, said that the signing associations shall encourage and promote, in accordance with their respective laws and regulations co-operation between the two Associations in the field of bilateral trade on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and shall determine, by mutual agreement, the areas and subjects of such cooperation.

The cooperation contemplated in the present Agreement includes the Exchange of trade and investment related information, Exchange of publications and information of bilateral trade, Development of joint venture and technology transfers and investment, any other form of bilateral trade cooperation as may be mutually agreed upon, Exchange of trade enquires and business proposals for joint ventures, Exchange of trade delegations, Promoting technology transfer, joint venture and investment.

This Agreement will go a long way in furthering business ties between India and Macau -China, said Kalantri.

Macao saw 838 new companies formed in the second quarter of this year with a combined capital of 227 million pataca, a 48.6 per cent and 125.5 per cent increase respectively year-on-year.

In terms of total investors from a single country or region, the Portuguese came in first with 60.1 million pataca, although their number is only a fraction of the total. Local investors rank second with 58 million pataca.

Third place went to those from the mainland with 44.7 million pataca in all, of which 12.4 million pataca came from Guangdong Province. Mainland investors also formed 50 joint ventures with Macao businesses in the same period.

Analysts say the relatively large amount of capital injected by a small number of Portuguese companies again proves the important role Macao plays as a bridge between fast-growing China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

They believe Macao's role as a business intermediary between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and regions will grow.

Of all the new businesses formed in that period, 405 are solely owned by Macao investors, while 191 were set up by Hong Kong entrepreneurs.

The number of companies with initial capital of less than 50,000 pataca stands at 528, accounting for 63 per cent of the total.

Meanwhile, 55 companies disbanded in the same period, involving assets worth 63.7 million pataca in all. Of the 55 folded, 17 were wholesalers and retailers, while 12 were business backend service providers.

Retail Outlet at Leading Tourist Destination Is One of China's Largest

HONG KONG and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LJ International, Inc. (LJI) (Nasdaq: JADE - News), one of the fastest-growing jewelry companies in the world, today announced that it has been awarded the rights to open its largest retail outlet so far, an 8,000-square-foot store at the new Fisherman's Wharf development in Macau http://www.fishermanswharf.com.mo . The new ENZO store, a wholly-owned subsidiary of LJI, expects to be opened and fully operational this year.

LJI has been given a prime spot at this location, beating a number of well-known global brands. The Company expects the new super-store to have a substantial and early impact on revenue, possibly doubling or tripling the $80,000-per-month initial volume of its Shanghai Flagship Store. Given the competitive landscape and size of the store, LJI considers this opening as the single most significant event so far in the execution of its ENZO growth strategy in Greater China.

China's Entry into WTO Enables LJ International to Have First-Mover Advantage

The new store is the latest to be opened by LJI's ENZO division, which operates retail stores in mainland China, Hong Kong and, now, Macau. The stores, now numbering eight, include a flagship upscale store in Shanghai, a 5,000-square-foot showroom in Hong Kong, one other store in Shanghai, two stores in Beijing, one in Ningbo and one in Harbin. All offer LJI jewelry exclusively.

The new facility is located in one of Macau's newest and most popular tourist destinations, the Fisherman's Wharf. This project, Macau's biggest since it was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1999 is co-developed by renowned magnate Dr. Stanley Ho and Mr. David Chow, current legislative member of Macau, with total investment anticipated to reach $320 million. It features restaurants, souvenir shops, a theme park and even a man-made volcano. http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/english/event_en/fisherman_en.html .

''LJI's opening in Macau is a significant step forward and a sign of the company's growing reputation as a high-volume retailer," said Yu Chuan Yih, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LJ International. ''Under the guidance of Dr. Stanley Ho, Macau has grown into one of Asia's prime tourist and gaming destinations. We are especially gratified that LJI was chosen over many global jewelry retail giants for such a coveted site in a prime shopping area. We consider this a strong vote of confidence from Dr. Ho and Mr. Chow.''

Mr. Yih continued, ''It is notable that we won the right to operate the largest ewelry retailing operation at Fisherman's Wharf. That testifies not only to the quality of our products and the successful launch of the ENZO brand -- tested here against some of the most stringent competition in the world -- but also to the continuing success of our first-mover strategy in China. Since China's entry into the WTO, we have aggressively expanded in anticipation of the greatly expanded opportunities for retailing on our own and with key partners. The Macau store is the greatest such opportunity thus far.''

Macau: The Las Vegas of Asia

LJI is establishing a presence in Macau during an unprecedented tourism and building boom in the former Portuguese colony. The government of China is pursing a strategy of turning Macau into the gambling capital of Asia, and the effort has paid off in a surge of new hotel and casino building, along with a sharp rise in gaming revenue. During 2004, according to the Asia Times ( http://atimes01.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF15Ad05.html ), Macau earned $5.4 billion from gaming, passing the Las Vegas Strip ($5.3 billion) as the world's largest gaming center.

At the same time, Macau has seen a surge in tourist activity that seems
destined to keep growing. The 17-square-mile territory has only about 500,000
permanent residents, but the number of tourists visiting last year has been
estimated at 30 to 40 times that, or from 15-20 million. And the potential
for growth is enormous. As the Las Vegas Sun
(http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-
other/2005/jul/08/519023045.html) has recently reported, some 100 million
people live within a 3-hour drive of Macau and more than 1 billion are no more
than a 3-hour flight away.

Most tourists have been coming from China for short stays, but developers are rapidly increasing hotel space to extend the stays and make Macau a more practical destination for people arriving from more distant locations. Also, the Macau government's decision in 2002 to end Dr. Stanley Ho's monopoly on gambling has drawn major players from Las Vegas and Hong Kong, including Wynn Resorts (NYSE: WYNN, http://www.wynnresorts.com ), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS, http://www.lasvegassands.com ) and the Hong Kong group K-Wah. The Sands Macau Casino has been open since May 2004, and Las Vegas Sands is building a new 3,000-room resort, Sands Macau Venetian Casino, due to open in 2007. Wynn Macau, a 600-room hotel, is under construction and due to open in Fall 2006.

A Breakthrough for LJI

With its duty-free history and established gold and jewelry retailing, Macau has long attracted jewelry shoppers, especially from China. The new gaming-driven tourist boom has enhanced the enclave's reputation and is greatly expanding the pool of potential customers for a jewelry firm such as LJI. The Company's new ENZO store is situated in the heart of shopper's Macau, in the new Fisherman's Wharf development Opened in 2004, Fisherman's Wharf is described by the 2005 Frommer's Hong Kong as ''the biggest and most conspicuous addition to Macau's shopping and entertainment scene,'' featuring ''shops, restaurants, bars, a disco, a manmade 'active' volcano, an amusement park, playground, hotels, and amphitheater.''

About LJ International

LJ International, Inc. (LJI), based in Hong Kong and the U.S., is engaged in designing, branding, marketing and distributing a full range of jewelry. It has built its global business, currently one of the fastest-growing in the jewelry industry, on a vertical integration strategy and an unwavering commitment to quality and service. LJI distributes to fine jewelers, department stores, national jewelry chains and electronic and specialty retailers throughout North America and Western Europe, with a growing retail presence in China through stores and e-shopping sites. Its product lines incorporate all major categories sought by major retailers, including earrings, necklaces, pendants, rings and bracelets. It trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol JADE.

Forward looking statement: Except for the historical information, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, factors relating to future sales. These forward-looking statements may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, uncertainties in product demand, the impact of competitive products and pricing, changing economic conditions around the world, release and sales of new products and other risk factors detailed in the company's most recent annual report and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tim LeeMaster


August 11, 2005


Dah Sing Banking Group plans to sell US$150 million (HK$1.17 billion) in subordinated debt as it prepares to buy a Macau bank, a source familiar with the matter said.

The 12-year bonds, which the bank can buy back after seven years, will be priced at about 67 basis points over seven-year midswaps, or as low as 115 basis points over five-year US treasuries, the source said.

Bankers use the five-year treasury because there is no US seven-year benchmark. Final pricing will come by the end of the week. Standard Chartered is arranging the sale.

Dah Sing Bank, the eighth-largest publicly traded bank in Hong Kong, last week said it would pay US$215 million for Banco Comercial de Macau and a 96 percent stake in the lender's two insurance units.

Macau's economy has taken off, growing 28 percent last year, since the government liberalized the casino sector, the key driver of the territory's economy. Dah Sing Bank plans to sell the two insurance companies, Companhia de Seguros de Macau and Companhia de Seguros de Macau Vida, to Dah Sing Financial Holdings, the bank's parent company and insurance arm of the Dah Sing group, when the acquisition is completed. That is expected by the end of the year.

Dah Sing Bank in April sold US$150 million of 10-year floating rate notes priced 60 basis points over the London interbank offered rate. The deal earned Deutsche Bank 25 basis points in fees. The April bonds were rated BBB+, or three grades above non-investment grade by Fitch ratings. Standard & Poor's gave the bonds a rating one notch lower at BBB, while Moody's rated them a similar Baa2.

Following that bond sale, Dah Sing Financial paid US$120 million to buy Hong Kong-based consumer finance firm Pacific Finance from US investment bank JPMorgan and Jardine Matheson.

By Richard N. Velotta <velotta@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN

Three Las Vegas resorts and the Fashion Show mall have rolled out the red carpet for a large contingent of artisans and government and business dignitaries from Macau hoping to show Southern Nevadans that the city isnt just Asia's premiere gaming destination.

Tuesday was the busiest day of Macau Week, which is being observed at the Venetian, the MGM Grand, Wynn Las Vegas and Fashion Show through Sunday.

Art displays, photo exhibitions and demonstrations by dancers, musicians and artists are scheduled all week at the mall and the resorts to demonstrate that the city on the southern tip of China that vies to become Asia's Las Vegas has a unique cultural heritage that makes it a worthy international destination.

"It's a celebration of a rich cultural heritage, said Fernando Chui Sai On, secretary of social affairs and culture for the Macau Special Administrative Region, a designation established when the government of Portugal turned the area over to the Chinese in 1999.

Macau heated up for the gaming industry in 2002 when the government of Macau signed concession agreements with companies affiliated with Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Inc., opening the area to foreign competitors. Las Vegas Sands quickly opened the Sands Macau last year and began work on a scaled-down version of the Venetian while Wynn began construction of a slimmed-down replica of Wynn Las Vegas.

MGM Mirage entered the market through a partnership with Pansy Ho, managing director of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., which has real estate and tourism holdings throughout Macau. Ho is a daughter of Stanley Ho, who held a monopoly on casinos in Macau for 40 years before the decision to offer concessions to outside companies.

Stanley Ho still controls more than a dozen casinos in Macau, including the Casino Lisboa, the largest currently operating in the city.

Ground was broken earlier this year on the MGM Macau. All three hotel-casino projects with Las Vegas connections are expected to open in 2007 and are in various stages of construction.

Pansy Ho was among the business representatives who came to Las Vegas for Macau Week and met with MGM Mirage officials in addition to taking in some of the cultural offerings.

"It's been quite well received, Pansy Ho said of this week's cultural offerings at the resorts and the mall. "It gives us an opportunity to show that there's more to experience in Macau.

Las Vegas Sands President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Weidner said that while Macau is a thriving gaming market, it doesn't have the infrastructure to supplant Las Vegas as the world's leading casino resort destination.

Still, Macau's casino revenue is on pace to surpass that of Las Vegas, thanks to a growing core market of Chinese high-rollers, many based in Hong Kong, who make day trips to the casinos.

Weidner said his company's strategy is to help develop a different niche of tourists willing to spend more than a day in the city and take in some of the cultural amenities Macau has to offer. To make the experience more appealing to the mass market, Las Vegas Sands and its American counterparts are developing resort experiences more akin to Las Vegas, complete with entertainment, dining and shopping experiences as well as convention and meeting facilities.

The mass market is only beginning to be tapped as Chinese government authorities continue to relax visa requirements that will allow millions of Chinese citizens to travel more freely.

And, in addition to developing the Chinese market, Macau is spreading its wings internationally. That's why the Macau government is staging Macau Week in Las Vegas.

The Fashion Show is offering Chinese dragon and lion dances, Portuguese folk dancing and a Macanese band at 7:30 and 9 p.m., through Sunday. The mall also is the setting for a photographic exhibit, "24 Hours in Macau."

The MGM Grand also is playing host on its Studio Walk to a photo exhibit featuring images of events and festivals in Macau, including the A-Ma Festival, the Macau Arts Festival, the International Fireworks Festival, the Macau Grand Prix auto race and the Chinese New Year.

A collection of modern art is on display at the Venetian's Colonnade. Fifty-three original works by Macanese artists demonstrating calligraphy, painting and contemporary media are on display.

Macanese virtuoso pianist brothers Kuok-Man Lio and Lio Kuok-Wai played a concert Tuesday night and are scheduled to appear again Friday at Wynn Las Vegas. Resort owner Steve Wynn invited the pianists to appear after hearing them play in Asia.

Macanese food -- a blend of Portuguese and Chinese cuisine -- is being offered with special menu items at Wynn's Terrace Point Cafi, the Venetian's Royal Star Restaurant and MGM Grand's Pearl Restaurant.

The venues also will feature Macanese artisans offering calligraphic painting and silhouette portraits.

Macanese culture got a boost last month when Macau's historic center was listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It was the 31st site in China to be designated by UNESCO.

China's Macau Special Administrative Region recorded 1.9 million hotel guests in the first half of the year, according to official statistics issued in Macau Monday.
The figures from Macau's Statistics and Census Service indicated that the number represented a year-on-year increase of 1. 6 percent.
The number of hotel rooms reached 10,571 last June, up 13.7 percent year-on-year, the figures showed.
The statistics displayed that hotel guests accounted for merely 21.3 percent of the number of visitor arrivals in the first half of 2005, an indicator of the booming flow of individual visitors.

Macao's gross domestic product (GDP) rising rate will be under 8 percent in the second half of the year, an official told local media Tuesday.

Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, told The Macao Post that he estimated that the region's GDP rose nearly 8 and 8.5 percent respectively in the first and second quarter of this year.

After last year's 28-percent record rate, said Tam, the GDP growth "has already regained its steady pace."

The frenziedly boomed GDP growth in 2004 was mainly due to the opening of a series of casino projects, said the official.

He viewed that it is healthy for the GDP growth to remain " under two-digit."

Tam said the average salaries, wages and consumer price index will continue to rise this year.

Source: Xinhua

Hong Kong
Macau saw a boom in tourist arrivals of 9.3 per cent year-on-year in July with 1.66 million people visiting the southern Chinese territory, government officials said Friday.

The densely-populated gambling resort of 450,000 people, which is trying to broaden its appeal to tourists, has now seen a rise of 14.4 per cent in tourism in the first seven months of the year.

Visitor numbers from Hong Kong and Taiwan increased by 5.8 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively while arrivals from mainland China rose by 21.2 per cent.

The increase in visitors from China comes largely from the introduction of an individual visitor scheme allowing Chinese people to cross the border without being members of group tours.

Of Chinese visitors, 479,000, or 52.5 per cent of the total, were travelling under the scheme introduced in 2003 which has boosted tourist arrivals in both Macau and neighbouring Hong Kong.

Visitor arrivals to Macau for the first seven months of 2005 now total 10.58 million, a 14.4 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Same day arrivals - mostly people visiting to spend time in Macau's casinos - accounted for 52.4 per cent of the total, the territory's government said in a statement.

Macau was a Portuguese colony for 450 years before being returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999. It has since made efforts to clean up its once-seedy image.

The government has allowed Las Vegas casino operators to break the territory's Chinese-run casino monopoly and had a number of its colonial monuments declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO in July.

Macau recorded 10.58 million visitor arrivals in the first seven months of this year, up 14.4 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics issued in Macau Monday.
The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the number of one-day visitors made up 52.4 percent of all arrivals between January and July.
The special administrative region, in July alone, reported 1.66 million visitor arrivals, a year-on-year rise of 9.3 percent.
The number of visitors from the Chinese mainland made up 54.8 percent of all arrivals, and those from Hong Kong 31.3 percent and Taiwan 8.3 percent.
The city recorded 16.6 million visitor arrivals in 2004, according to the statistics.

Macao's composite consumer price index (CCPI) in July rose 4.75 percent over the same period of last year, according to official statistics issued here Monday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the index grew 3.69 percent in the first seven months over the same period of last year.

The increase was mainly due to the growth in electricity fees, rising prices of newspaper, fresh vegetables, beverages, food stuffs and increased expenditure on housing and leisure, accordingto the statistics. Enditem

Official statistics show that Macao,with a population of nearly 470,000, had a labor force of 242,000 in the second quarter of this year.

According to the figures issued by the Statistics and Census Service on Tuesday, 52.3 percent of the workforce registered in the second quarter were female.

The statistics also show that 16.6 percent of the total force worked in entertainment and service activities, followed by manufacturing (15.2 percent) and wholesale and retail (14.7 percent) sectors.

The employees worked an average of 47.4 hours a week and earnedan average monthly salary of 5,701 patacas (713 US dollars) duringthe quarter.

Among the unemployed, according to the statistics, 92.1 percentare looking for a new job while 7.9 percent are seeking their first employment. Enditem

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that number of visitor arrivals in July 2005, in light of the commencement of the summer holiday, reached 1,665,724, up 9.3% year-on-year; visitors from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, China increased 5.8%, 8.6% and 21.2% respectively. Meanwhile, same-day visitors accounted for 51.0% of the total arrivals, at 849,650.

The majority of visitors came from Mainland China (54.8% of the total), Hong Kong (31.3%) and Taiwan, China (8.3%). Among the Mainland visitors, 479,900 (52.5%) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.

In the first seven months of 2005, visitor arrivals totalled 10,589,047, up 14.4% over the same period of last year. Visitors from Mainland China increased 10.8% to 5,903,865 (55.8% of the total), with 3,014,764 arriving in Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme. Moreover, visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China shared 30.0% (3,174,367) and 8.3% (883,596) of the total arrivals. Same-day visitors accounted for 52.4% of the total, at 5,543,795.

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Henderson Land Development Co. (0012.HK) has bought 1 million square feet of land on the waterfront of Macau's Taipa peninsula for HK$4 billion, the Chinese-language Hong Kong Economic Times reports, without citing sources.

The paper says the site has a developable gross floor area of 10 million square feet. Henderson Land is likely to build a luxury housing project at the site, the report says.

Henderson Land (0012.HK) down 1.3% at HK$37.85 amid weakness in property stocks, ignoring HKET report of HK$4 billion land purchase in Macau. DBS Vickers says Taipa site has beautiful scenery, estimates all-in costs of HK$1,900 psf, expects project to fetch margin above 30%. Shares may have short-term upside if deal confirmed; though it'll be long-term project, BOCI says "it will help (Henderson) to diversify its development and further tap into the booming economy of Macau over the long term."

Henderson Land, Hong Kong's third-largest developer, has lined up its first foray into Macau's booming property market by agreeing to buy a residential site on the Taipa waterfront.

Analysts estimate the cost of a luxury project on the site - located near the Taipa bridge, between Ocean Garden and the University of Macau - at HK$16 billion.

But Henderson is expected to pay less than HK$4 billion for the land, vice-chairman Colin Lam said Wednesday. He also confirmed it had signed a conditional purchase agreement.

An investment bank analyst estimated the total development costs at HK$1,600 per square foot. Homes in the newest phase of nearby Ocean Garden are selling for between HK$2,500 and HK$3,000 psf.

If Henderson charged similar prices, it could expect a profit of HK$9 billion to HK$14 billion.

The project is expected to be one of the biggest in Taipa in recent years, with a developable gross floor area of about 10 million sqft.

Henderson previously said it was studying six or seven high-end residential projects in Macau.

Lam, who previously stated Henderson has no plans to enter the casino business, said the company is optimistic about the Macau property market and would probably team up with others.

Centaline (Macau) Property Agency executive director Rico Kwok said home prices in Macau jumped as much as 30 percent in the first quarter of this year, followed by a mild correction of 5 percent in the second quarter.

``Demand from expatriates for luxury flats will continue to increase as the local labor force may not be sufficient to meet the needs of a growing number of businesses, such as hotels and casinos,'' Midland Realty Macau sales director Jimmy Yeung said.

Real estate agents are upbeat about the property market in Macau. Shortages could begin to show up as early as next year unless the government begins to carry out land reclamation on a large scale in Taipa soon, they say.

Shares of Henderson Land fell 1.43 percent to close at HK$37.80.

Macao has seen a 4.2-percent unemployment rate between May and July, a year-on-year drop of 0.7 percent, according to official statistics issued on Monday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the number of jobless residents seeking their first job was around 1,200, or 12.1 percent of the total unemployed population.

Macao's total labor force was estimated at 245,000 in the period between May and July, the figures showed.

The special administrative region has a population of nearly 470,000.

Source: Xinhua

30/8/2005 17:43

China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) jointly launched an economic expo in Macau today to enhance the mutual economic cooperations.
The two sides signed 16 cooperating contracts worth of US$326 million at the expo.
Cao Bochun, party chief of the autonomous region, heading a delegation comprising a dozen of Guangxi city mayors, attended the expo.
Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, acting chief executive of the SAR, was also present at the expo.

NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Bank of China [BOC.UL] and two banks based in Macau are under U.S. scrutiny for possible connections to North Korea's illicit fund-raising network, which Washington believes finances Pyongyang's nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Bank of China in Hong Kong, Clarina Man, said: "We have no knowledge of any such investigation."

In a written response to faxed questions from the Journal, she added that the bank has "always been attaching great importance to anti-money-laundering activities."

The banks, which could face stiff sanctions, are caught up in a U.S. operation to shut down lucrative North Korean enterprises producing narcotics, counterfeit U.S. currency and fake cigarettes, the newspaper said.

It said law-enforcement officials from several countries described the wide-ranging U.S. operation, while several North Korean defectors gave accounts of Pyongyang's financial network.

The operation comes as multilateral negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear-weapons program are set to resume next week, with China playing a key role, the Journal said.

It also comes amid plans for an initial public offering next year by Bank of China, which recently hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of New York, to prepare the move. Recently, Bank of China secured a pledge of $3.1 billion in investment from a consortium that includes Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

The affair also is likely to reverberate in Asia because of the wealthy players behind the two Macau banks, the report said.

One of the Macau lenders, Banco Delta Asia SARL, is controlled by Stanley Au, a major player in the Hong Kong financial markets who is also a legislator in Macau and serves as an adviser to the Chinese government.

The other bank, Seng Heng Bank Ltd., is controlled by billionaire gambling mogul Stanley Ho, who started a casino in Pyongyang and has close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing.

The Journal said executives at Banco Delta Asia had no comment.

A spokesman for Seng Heng Bank told the newspaper: "We have nothing to provide you. We have no comment."

Banco Delta Asia SARL, a unit of Delta Asia Financial Group, has been under scrutiny by the Secret Service and other U.S. agencies since a publicly disclosed 1994 counterfeiting case by the Secret Service and Macau police that led to the arrests of North Korean officials in Macau, the Journal said.

The bank is a top candidate for being placed on a Treasury Department blacklist of entities allegedly involved in money laundering, people familiar with the matter said. Inclusion on the blacklist, which could be proposed shortly, could make it difficult for the bank to do business internationally.

The Secret Service, the Justice Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. agencies are investigating the banks as part of a new initiative against nuclear proliferation that the White House unveiled in June, the newspaper said.

HONG KONG (AFX) - US investigators are probing the Bank of China and two banks in the southern Chinese territory of Macau for possible links to a fund-raising network for North Korea's nuclear program, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported.

The investigation is part of an American effort to shut down the trade in drugs, counterfeit US currency and contraband cigarettes that helps fund the program, the newspaper reported.

Citing North Korean defectors and law enforcement officials from several countries, the report said the Bank of China, Banco Delta Asia and Seng Heng Bank had been targeted as part of a new initiative to crack down on the financiers of the global nuclear trade, announced by President George W. Bush in June.

The report said Banco Delta, which is controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Au, had been under investigation since it was linked with Zokwang Trading, a Macau company run by North Koreans that was at the center of a scandal in the mid-90s when two employees were caught trying to pass off counterfeit currency.

US investigators believe Zokwang, which is still in business, had also helped obtain parts for Pyongyang's nuclear program, the report added.

Seng Heng is part-controlled by casino tycoon Stanley Ho, who is believed to have links with the Pyongyang government thanks to a casino he opened in a North Korean hotel, the report said.

It added that defectors had told investigators that the North's banks relied on Bank of China to make international transactions.

The report said US officials were frustrated at not being able to publicize their probe, which has been kept under wraps for fear of destabilizing six-party talks, due to resume next week, aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear program.

Macau Q2 GDP Growth Slows To 8.2%; Tourist Spending Eases

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Macau's economic expansion slowed to 8.2% year on year in the second quarter, the government said Wednesday, as a drop in tourist spending offset robust investment and growth in the gaming sector.

Macau registered a revised 8.6% gross domestic product growth in the first quarter.

Tourism and gambling remain the driving forces of the robust Macau economy, which grew 28% last year.

Gross fixed capital formation, a measure of investment, surged 61.1% from a year earlier in the second quarter, well above the 38.8% growth in the first quarter, driven by construction of new hotels and casinos catering to an influx of visitors from mainland China.

In the second quarter of 2005, visitor arrivals rose 12.1% on year to 4.46 million, the same number of arrivals recorded in the first quarter. Most of the visitors came from mainland China and Hong Kong, where casino gambling isn't permitted.

Yet many tourists appeared to be cutting their spending. Total visitor spending excluding gambling fell 4.8% in the second quarter, as a result of a 12.1% decrease in per-capita spending.

Gambling receipts jumped 17.2%, stronger than the previous quarter, but still far short of the 28.2% gain in the final quarter of last year.

In terms of trade, the total value of goods exported dropped a further 33.6% year on year in the second quarter to MOP3.89 billion, from an 18% drop in the first quarter.

Macau's exports to the United States fell 36%, while shipments to the European Union dropped 70.5%.

During the period, Macau's textile and garment exports fell as smaller textile makers lost clients to competitors in China. Retailers began turning to lower-cost factories in China for textile products following the abolition of export quotas at the start of this year.

7/9/2005 17:59

Macau's gross domestic product GDP) rose 8.2 percent in the second quarter over the same period of last year, according to official statistics issued in Macau on Wednesday.
The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service showed that the region's gross gaming receipts saw a year-on-year increase of 17.2 percent in the quarter.
The private consumption expenditure in the quarter increased 8. 9 percent and the government consumption expenditure rose 9.0 percent over the same period of last year.

Asia Standard Hotel (0292.HK) down 34.7% at 94 HK cents; stock tumbling after spectacular run-up this year on flimsy story would invest in Macau hotel project; hit intraday high of HK$1.92 last week; big players who likely drew in speculators now exiting stock, says Francis Lun of Fulbright Securities; company said on Sep 1 was exploring Macau opportunities but had no concrete project.

HONG KONG and MACAO, Sept. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Gammon and its Macau Partner, Mei Cheong, today held a ceremony to mark the commencement of work on the West Podium of the Venetian Macao Resort - Hotel - Casino. The Venetian Macao, the anchor property on the Cotai Strip(TM), is the first "Las Vegas-style" resort in the Asia Pacific region, developed by Las Vegas Sands, Corp.

"Gammon is proud to be playing a growing role in the development of Macao
and in particular the Cotai Strip. The West Podium Superstructure is our
second contract for the Venetian Macao following our previous award of the
Venetian Macao Hotel," says Thomas Ho, Chief Executive of Gammon.

Valued at MOP$422 million (HK$410 million), this West Podium
Superstructure adjacent to the Hotel will contain the casino floor, retail,
leisure and entertainment areas of the property, including an indoor canal.
This five-level Podium comprises primarily of three levels of reinforced
concrete slab, including precast elements; two levels of composite structural
steel/concrete slab; and structural steel roofing covering a total area of
103,000 square metres.

The Venetian Macao Hotel, planned as a 32-storey tower, will accommodate
3,000 hotel suites scheduled to open in 2007.

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US Treasury Department named Banco Delta Asia of Macau as a "primary money laundering concern," saying the bank is a "willing pawn" for the North Korean government.
It said in a statement that the move was made under the anti-terrorism legislation known as the US Patriot Act because the bank poses an unacceptable risk of money laundering and other financial crimes.
At the same time, Treasury moved to finalize a rule that would bar US banks and other financial institutions from doing business with Banco Delta Asia, which maintains accounts in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada.
"Banco Delta Asia has been a willing pawn for the North Korean government to engage in corrupt financial activities through Macau, a region that needs significant improvement in its money laundering controls," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism.
According to the Treasury Department, Banco Delta Asia has provided financial services to the North Korean government and North Korean front companies for more than 20 years.
The bank has "specifically facilitated the criminal activities of North Korean government agencies and front companies," Treasury said.
Activities by one company include distributing counterfeit money and smuggling counterfeit cigarettes, the Treasury said.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported the US was scrutinizing the Bank of China and Seng Heng Bank Ltd in addition to Banco Delta Asia for possible connections to North Korea's fund-raising network.
North Korea has been one of the world's most isolated states but it has maintained a business presence in Macau, the former Portuguese territory that is now part of China.
The Wall Street Journal report said Banco Delta, which is controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Au, had been under investigation since it was linked with Zokwang Trading, a Macau company run by North Koreans that was at the center of a scandal in the mid-90s when two employees were caught trying to pass off counterfeit currency.
US investigators believe Zokwang, which is still in business, had also helped obtain parts for Pyongyang's nuclear program, the report added.
A Treasury spokeswoman had no comment about either the Bank of China or Seng Heng Bank.
Seng Heng is part-controlled by casino tycoon Stanley Ho, who is believed to have links with the Pyongyang government thanks to a casino he opened in a North Korean hotel, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
The paper added that defectors had told investigators that the North's banks relied on Bank of China to make international transactions.

Investment from the United States in Macao's gaming industry has reached 300 million US dollars, it was reported Friday.

James B. Cunningham, the US consul general in Hong Kong, said Thurday the inauguration of the Macao Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong would serve the interests of its 50 members and of Macao.

The US diplomat said as Macao has opened the gaming industry toforeign competition, more US investment will hopefully be seen flooding in.

Two of Macao's 17 casinos are funded by operators from the US.

HONG KONG (AP) - Financial authorities in Macau said Friday they are investigating U.S. allegations that a Macau-based bank has been laundering money for North Korea. Despite the bank's denials, customers waited in long lines to withdraw their money.

The announcement comes shortly after the U.S. Treasury Department put Macau's Banco Delta Asia SARL on its blacklist of suspected money launderers and proposed that the bank be cut off from the U.S. financial system.

The department alleged the bank had aided front companies for the North Korean government in distributing counterfeit money and smuggling.

The Macau government said in a statement that its regulator, the Monetary Authority of Macau, has set up "a special team" to investigate the bank.

Banco Delta Asia SARL strongly denied the allegations. In a statement, it said it has had a "purely commercial banking relationship with a number of North Korean banks and trading companies" since the 1970s. It said the business was well known to U.S. and Macau authorities.

The bank said it hadn't been approached by any U.S. government agency about its dealings with North Korea, and had no evidence that any of its customers were involved "in any form of illicit activities."

It also said it has abided by local laws and the recommendations of international organizations on money laundering.

The news, however, sparked a rush at Macau branches with long lines of customers waiting to withdraw their money, local television showed.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also said it has appointed an outside manager to run Delta Asia Credit Ltd., a Hong Kong subsidiary of Banco Delta Asia SARL.

"This action will help to provide a measure of protection to depositors with the institution and to safeguard the integrity of the wider banking system," the HKMA said in a statement.

The Hong Kong unit noted that it is managed separately from the Macau arm and said it has not been approached by U.S. agencies and that it has complied with all money laundering regulations.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1999. The tiny territory -- only a 10th the size of Washington, D.C. -- includes a peninsula and two islands in the Pearl River delta in southern China.

The Macau bank is a unit of Delta Asia Group (Holdings) Ltd., a finance company run by Stanley Au, a Macau businessman, local lawmaker and former gold trader.

MACAO, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States government's money-laundering accusation on Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, triggered quick response here on Friday, as the bank formally denied the charge.

Wong Kai Fun, chief operating officer of Delta Asia Financial Group (BDA's parent company), told a press conference that the money laundering accusation is baseless.

"We are surprised at such allegation," Wong noted.

He said BDA has not been approached by any US agencies in anyway in relation to any of the dealings with banks and trading companies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

BDA has an over 30-year-long business relationship with a number of DPRK banks and trading companies, Wong said, adding that however, the bank has always strictly followed international regulations which are aimed at eliminating money laundering.

"We welcome the inspection from the Monetary Authority of Macao(MAM) and the US Department of Treasury," Wong said.

Stanley Au, chairman of the Delta Asia Financial Group (DAFG), told the press conference through telephone that the US allegation is "a big joke."

Au, on his business trip in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, said he is on a relaxing mood that the US assertion will not harm badly his business.

"I am bathing the beautiful sunshine on the Indian Ocean beach," he chuckled on the phone.

However, the financial tycoon has something to worry about, as many customers swarmed into the branches of BDA in Macao to squeeze out their cash on Friday afternoon.

The bank logged a total withdrawal of over 40 million patacas (five million US dollars) on Friday alone.

Au said, in response, that DAFG has transferred enough cash from its Hong Kong subsidiaries to handle the BDA crisis.

He also pledged that the banking group has authorized lawyers in the US to take legal actions.

The BDA, established in Macao in 1935, currently operates eight branches and four offices in the special administrative region and DAFG, BDA's parent company, has subsidiaries and offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and the Chinese city of Zhuhai.

Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), Thursday said in his report published on the web-page of the Department of Treasury that BDA has aided DPRK in series of money-laundering cases.

The US official also denounced the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) for being lax in curbing money laundering.

In response to the US assumption, the MSAR government issued a statement earlier on Friday expressing regrets over the comments of the US official.

The statement said the Macao government "is highly concerned" in regards of the accusation by Stuart Levey.

It said the MSAR government, under the leadership of the Central Government, has strictly observed the resolutions of the United Nations in relation to anti-terrorism and has dedicated efforts to deter and suppress illegal financial activities.

The Monetary Authority of Macao (MAM) of the MSAR exercises its supervision on all authorized financial institutions under a stringent regulatory framework, said the statement.

The MAM has already set up a special squad to launch probes into the bank, it added.

Edmund Ho lashed out at officials from the US Treasury for alleging that a Macau bank had aided North Korea in counterfeiting

AP , HONG KONG
Sunday, Sep 18, 2005,Page 11

Macau's leader Edmund Ho said yesterday that US allegations that a Macau-based bank has been laundering money for North Korea were "serious" and lacked evidence.

Financial authorities in Macau were investigating allegations by the US Treasury Department that Macau's Banco Delta Asia SARL had aided front companies for the North Korean government in distributing counterfeit money and smuggling.

The US Treasury has put the bank on its blacklist of suspected money launderers and proposed that the bank be cut off from the US financial system.

In response, Ho told reporters: "These serious allegations from the US Treasury must ultimately be based on fact."

"We cannot jump to such a hasty conclusion before there is firm evidence," he said.

The allegations have led a large number of depositors to withdraw their money from the bank, despite its firm denials Friday. Yesterday morning, long queues continued to spill out on the streets outside the bank.

Ho urged Macau to restore confidence in the bank's operations.

"This incident has completely no ties with its operation... I hope you refrain from easily believing market rumors. None of us would like to see a blow to our financial system from such unreasonable scenarios," he said.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1999. The tiny territory -- only a 10th the size of Washington, D.C. -- includes a peninsula and two islands in the Pearl River delta in southern China. It is renowned for its gambling and seedy nightlife.

The Macau bank is a unit of Delta Asia Group (Holdings) Ltd., a finance company run by Stanley Au, a Macau businessman, local lawmaker and former gold trader.

Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macao-based bank accused by the US government of money-laundering,has temporarily halted its business relating to the Democratic People' s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Stanley Au, chairman of the Delta Asia Financial Group (BDA's parent company), told a press conference on late Saturday that the group stopped the business in a bid "to resolve the dispute with the United States Department of Treasury."

Au, however, noted that the halt will not be permanent.

BDA has had business relations with DPRK banks and trading agencies for decades, said Au, adding that it was "weird" for the US government to make the money-laundering charge at this moment.

Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), Thursday said in his report published on the web-page of the Department of Treasury that BDA has aided the DPRK in series of money-laundering cases.

The US official, in his report, also slammed the Macao Special Administration for its laxness in curbing of money laundering.

The US official's assumption has produced a shaky situation for the bank, as the total withdrawal has reached 300 million patacas (37.5 million US dollars) till late Saturday, donning 10 percent of its deposit.

Source: Xinhua

MACAU, China (UPI) -- A weekend run on a Macau bank accused of laundering money for North Korea subsided Monday after the government appointed staff to help manage the bank.

Banking activities seemed back to normal Monday at the Banco Delta Asia in China`s special administrative region of Macau, after customers withdrew over $38 million, 10 percent of the bank`s capital, between Friday and Sunday.

Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho vowed to support the bank and appointed two representatives to monitor its operations late Saturday, as customers lined up to withdraw their savings, the South China Morning Post reported.

The run on the bank was sparked by a U.S. Treasury Department report that the bank had aided North Korean government companies involved in counterfeiting and cigarette smuggling.

The bank acknowledged it has had a long relationship with North Korean companies, but claimed there was nothing irregular in its dealings.

In 1994, the bank discovered thousands of fake U.S. $100 bills deposited by a North Korean, and a similar incident occurred in 1999. No charges were brought in either case, the newspaper said.

Macau's government has put in two outside executives to help manage a bank accused by the US of laundering money for North Korea.

The move follows a run on Banco Delta Asia, as investors rushed to withdraw their money.

According to the US government, the bank is a primary conduit for money earned by North Korea from counterfeit currency and drug smuggling.

The bank has called FinCEN's accusations a "ridiculous joke".

It has ordered US banks to take special care in any dealings with the bank.

Banco Delta Asia has previously been accused in the media of helping finance Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions

North Korea has just agreed to give up its nuclear weapons programme in exchange for security guarantees and economic aid.

'Willing pawn'

Under legislation passed shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the US Treasury Secretary has the power to designate foreign banks as "institutions of primary money laundering concern".

That means that US institutions have to implement special checks whenever entering into any relationship with them - particularly when it comes to correspondent banking relationships.

The effect is to impose severe limits on contact with the US financial system.

In Banco Delta Asia's case, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said the designation was based on the bank being a "willing pawn" of the North Korean government.

Pyongyang, FinCEN said, used a wide range of front companies and government agencies to profit from drug smuggling, counterfeiting goods and currency, and many other criminal activities.

The proceeds amounted to as much as $500m a year, it said - and for 20 years Banco Delta Asia had provided financial services to the organisations involved, helping them place counterfeit currency, providing access to the international financial system, and allowing surreptitious cash deposits and withdrawals.

Such organisations, FinCEN said, "comprise a significant amount of Banco Delta's business".

Aside from accusations levelled against Banco Delta, FinCen has said Macau's anti-money laundering controls are lax.

'Ridiculous'

In response, Macau - a gambling centre and a territory of the People's Republic of China - said it was investigating the bank, but tried to reassure the citizens desperate to extract their money from it.

"I urge residents to have faith in the financial system of Macau," said Chief Executive Edmund Ho.

"One must verify whether accusations correspond to reality and if they are justified, because without that one should not draw conclusions."

The bank's chairman, Stanley Au, has called FinCEN's accusations a "ridiculous joke".

"During the past 30 years, the trading relationship between our group and North Korea has been openly acknowledged by the monetary authorities of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as agencies in the US," he told reporters.

"If we had done these things, they shouldn't have had to wait until today to accuse us."

He said customers had withdrawn about $38m (£21.3m) on Friday and Saturday - some 10% of the bank's deposits.

By Gary LaMoshi

MACAU - Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has a vision of Asia's Las Vegas on Cotai, reclaimed land joining Macau's Coloane and Taipa islands. Adelson's US$2 billion Venetian Macau Casino Resort will anchor this new version of the Las Vegas Strip, with 20 more resorts lining the wide boulevard. Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho's City of Dreams complex will provide a sleek, ultramodern counterpoint to Adelson's classical Venetian. As a bonus, Vegas rival Steve Wynn will be stuck in Macau's downtown, sandwiched between a pair of the Ho family's new hotels and Adelson's Sands casino, the first to bring Las Vegas glitz to Macau.

Macau, returned to Chinese sovereignty under the "one country, two systems" principle in 1999 after nearly 450 years of Portuguese rule, has many charms. China's emperor granted Portugal this strategic outpost at the mouth of the Pearl River in the mid-16th century in exchange for controlling piracy - the kind

that intrigued Gilbert and Sullivan, not the kind that infuriates Microsoft and Disney. Macau's role as a gateway between east and west is evident from its 25 sites placed on the United Nations World Heritage List in July, including Chinese temples, Catholic churches, hilltop forts and lighthouses. Macanese cuisine brings together Portugal's sardines and China's swine to the rhythm of vinho verde. The place is a delightfully unhurried change of pace from the rat race of Hong Kong and the drab grind of southern China.

But Macau's 20 million visitors overwhelmingly come simply to gamble at the casino tables that the Portuguese legalized 158 years ago. For 40 years until 2002, Stanley Ho's Sociedade do Jogos de Macau (SJM, Portuguese for Macau Gaming Society) held a monopoly on casinos. The introduction of US operators Wynn Resorts and Adelson's Las Vegas Sands (LVS) has upped the stakes, and the revenue. Casino winnings grew 40% in 2004 and this year's projected 20% rise will push the figure beyond $6 billion, surpassing the take in Las Vegas. LVS averages $879,452 a day at its Venetian casino in Las Vegas. At its Sands Macau casino, opened in May 2004, it averages $2.36 million. But that's just the beginning.

Asia's Las Vegas in three years
LVS is master developer for a stretch of Cotai that will have seven new resort hotels in the first phase opening in 2007. LVS chairman and chief executive officer Adelson is so excited about the concept that he's trademarked the names "Cotai Strip" and "Asia's Las Vegas." LVS chief operating officer William Weidner says, "It took 75 years for Las Vegas to emerge as an international destination. Our intention is to replicate that feat in less than three years."

Today, Cotai is about six square kilometers of empty lots, construction fences and the Macau Dome, an elliptical dark glass and steel frame structure built for next month's East Asian Games, that looks like the shell of a giant insect fallen from outer space. But put on your bug repellent and imagine 2008.

The Venetian Macau - "Bringing the charm of Venice and the glamour of Las Vegas to you" according to the billboards surrounding its million square meter construction site - will feature 3,000 rooms in a 32-story tower. In addition to its signature canals with the gondolas, the resort will include 92,000 square meters of conference and exhibition space (Adelson made his initial fortune running the annual COMDEX technology fairs), a 2,000-seat theater, a 15,000-seat arena (at last, a home for Macau's basketball and hockey teams!), and a retail mall measuring nearly 80,000 square meters.

Venetian anchor
The Venetian will anchor a one kilometer stretch of resorts, according to the Sands' plan. Phase one includes six more branded resort hotels, including a Four Seasons, a Hilton, an Intercontinental and a Marriott, with a total of 10,000 rooms. Just beyond that, a partnership between Stanley Ho's son Lawrence and Australian Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited is building "City of Dreams", including three more hotels with 2,000 rooms, plus hundreds of serviced apartments, its own shopping mall and a 4,000-seat theater. Those buildings will seem to float in a lagoon that also provides atmosphere for an underwater casino.

A bridge connecting China's Zhuhai to Cotai will include a border gate, giving the strip first crack at a large chunk of the mainland tourist trade that comprises more than half of the visitors to Macau. Within a decade, Cotai could be the home to up to 25 resort-casinos. It could even expand to neighboring islands that belong to the mainland.

That's added to the construction boom already underway in downtown Macau, the current center of gambling and business action. Wynn, MGM Mirage (in partnership with Stanley Ho's daughter Pansy), and Ho's Hotel Lisboa are all developing new projects at the southern end of Macau, near the Sands casino. Macau Fisherman's Wharf opens this month, across the road from the Sands, near the Hong Kong ferry terminal. The project includes a children's fort, and replicas of a Tang dynasty, Rome's Colosseum, 19th-century port towns, and a 40-meter-tall volcano with a thrill ride through the lava. Retailing, restaurants, and convention facilities are also part of the mix.

In all, at least $12 billion is pouring into Macau for new hotels, facilities and attractions. There's a market of more than 100 million people within driving (and even walking) distance, a billion within two hours flying distance and three billion within five hours. Last year, China eased travel restrictions, making it possible for people from neighboring provinces Beijing and Shanghai (the highest income regions) to visit Macau individually, rather than as part of group tours.

Holistic value proposition
To attract a bigger piece of this market, Macau needs appeal beyond gambling. "The Venetian and Wynn Macau will be the first two properties developed in Macau that provide a holistic tourism value proposition," gaming industry consultant Jonathan V Galaviz explains. "When these two properties open, you will see a significant shift in the consumer profile that visits Macau. Instead of the gaming-centric visitor [only], you will see the middle market tourist include Macau on their tourist agenda."

For example, shopping tops the agenda for most mainland tourists, according to surveys, and new developments will move Macau into the retail major leagues. Cartier opened a Macau branch earlier this year in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's refurbished shopping arcade, a sign of two trends that will accelerate. Prestige brands are discovering Macau, and hotels are discovering the importance of retailing to boost revenue.

Cotai will lead the way to make Macau a contender in the Asian MICE market - meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions. "There's nothing like Cotai in the region," Macau Business magazine founder Paulo Azevedo notes. "If you have an international operator like Venetian pushing the MICE angle, it can work."

Certainly, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn and Stanley Ho have made fortunes in gambling, and they're all betting it will work.

September 20, 2005 ㅡ The Macao government offered assistance to the beleaguered Delta Asia Bank on Saturday after clients withdrew ten percent of the bank's total assets in two days. Delta Asia is Macao's second largest bank.
Account holders withdrew more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars ($38.6 million) from Sept. 16 to Sept. 17. after allegations by the U.S. Government that the bank was laundering money for North Korea. Macao's Treasury Minister, Edmund Ho, said two government employees from the financial service would help manage the bank during its time of crisis.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Sept. 15 designated the Delta Asia Bank a primary money laundering concern" and also stated that further investigation was needed into the case.
However, Mr. Ho said, that designation was "only a rumor and clients should stop withdrawing their savings before it ruins the whole financial system."

HONG KONG (AP) - A Macau bank blacklisted by U.S. authorities went on the offensive Tuesday against allegations that it laundered money for North Korea, refuting some of the U.S. accusations in detail and announcing it had hired U.S. lawyers to make its case.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week charged that Macau's Banco Delta Asia SARL helped front companies for the North Korean government engage in illegal activities.

American authorities said one of the alleged North Korean front companies that uses the bank is suspected of involvement in international drug trafficking, distribution of counterfeit currencies, and smuggling of fake tobacco products.

In a statement Monday, the bank denied wrongdoing, calling the U.S. government's allegations "totally unfounded."

The bank said its relationship with North Korean banks and trading companies, which date to the 1970s, is purely commercial and that it had no reason to believe it had helped finance the nation's weapons programs. The U.S. government has not mentioned any link to North Korean arms.

Banco Delta Asia said it actually alerted authorities when it discovered counterfeit U.S. currency was being deposited into a North Korean company's account.

The Macau bank said its business relationship with North Korean firms was "confined to the importation of commodities and consumer goods" and collecting payments for those products.

The payments were from "other major international banks and financial institutions," which should have conducted due diligence on their own clients, it said.

The bank also announced it hired the U.S. law firm Heller Ehrman LP to make its case to the U.S. government.

The top U.S. diplomat in the area, U.S. Consul General James Cunningham, stood by his government's allegations Tuesday.

"We have good reason to believe Banco Delta Asia has been involved in illicit activity on behalf of North Korea, and that's the reason for the steps we have taken," he said Tuesday after giving a speech.

The U.S. Treasury Department has put Banco Delta Asia on its blacklist of suspected money launderers, and proposed that it be cut off from the U.S. financial system.

Cunningham also said the United States wants Macau to pass anti-money laundering legislation.

The U.S. allegations sparked a run on the bank by its depositors, prompting the Macau government to appoint two outside executives to help run the bank. Macau monetary authorities are also investigating the accusations.

Former Portuguese colony Macau, a small coastal city west of Hong Kong now ruled by China, is best known for its thriving casino industry.

MACAO, Sept. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Macao's composite consumer price index (CCPI) in August rose 4.96 percent year-on-year, standing at 99.27, according to the official statistics issued here on Thursday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the index grew 3.85 percent in the first eight months over the same period of last year.

The SCS attributes the rise of CCPI to the rising prices in housing rent, outbound package tours and air tickets during summer holidays, as well as in gasoline that was affected by price increase of petroleum in the international market. Enditem

Macao recorded 1.7 million visitor arrivals in August, an increase of 7.1 percent over the same period of last year, according to official statistics issued Wednesday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the majority of visitors came in the month from the Chinese mainland (54.3 percent of the total), Hong Kong (32.5 percent) and Taiwan (8 percent).

The SCS statistics also showed that 55.3 percent of the mainland visitors were under the individual visit scheme.

The SCS attributed the strong visitor flow to the summer holidays.

In the first eight months of the year, visitor arrivals totaled 12,321,130, a year-on-year rise of 13.3 percent.

Source: Xinhua

HONG KONG (AFX) - The Macau government has taken charge of Banco Delta Asia which was accused by the United States of aiding illicit North Korean activities amid fears the allegations were ruining the lender, the bank said.

It said the government had accepted an invitation to take temporary charge of it until the crisis, which sparked a flurry of withdrawals by worried customers, comes to an end.

'All members of the board of directors have unanimously resolved to entrust management of the bank to a government-appointed committee until the US Treasury Department issue has been satisfactorily resolved,' the bank said in a statement.

A US Treasury Department report earlier this month put the bank on an international watchlist, accusing it of passing counterfeit currency and engaging in money laundering for North Korean clients.

A media report linked such illicit trade to fund-raising for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

The US Treasury designated the bank a 'primary money-laundering concern', alerting the global community to the 'illicit financial threat' it posed.

It also criticized Macau's lax attitude towards money laundering, saying controls had resulted in Banco Delta Asia being used by North Korea to engage in 'corrupt financial activities'.

Banco Delta Asia customers withdrew some 10 pct of the bank's capital after the report, fearing the lender would collapse.

The government sought to avert a crisis of confidence in the former Portuguese enclave's banking sector by urging customers not to panic and appointing two administrators to oversee the bank.

'Due to the recent allegations ... the bank's operation has been negatively affected,' it said, adding that it hopes the new controllers will be able to 'enhance operational stability as well as facilitate the addressing of the allegations'.

To celebrate “World Tourism Day” today (September 27), Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organized an exciting tray race and World Tourism Day banquet.

Director of MGTO, João Manuel Costa Antunes, Deputy Directors Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Manuel Gonçalves Pires J?nior presented welcome gifts to a four-member family from New Zealand at the Macau Ferry Terminal. The Johnson family, who were first time visitors to Macau, would continue their trip to Mainland China after their stay in Hong Kong and Macau. Souvenirs were also distributed to visitors at the information counters of MGTO.

The traditional tray race was held in the afternoon, where waiters and waitresses run down the stoned-path from the Ruins of St Paul’s to Senado Square carrying a tray with a bottle of beer on it. Over 80 participants, a record number, from 20 hotels and restaurants in Macau took part in the race. Crowds of visitors and local people were attracted and they cheered for the participants.

The winner of the men’s division was Christopher Llanez from Holiday Inn Macau and the winner of the women’s division was Wu Shunzhen from The Relic Inn. The Best Costume Awards went to Villavicencio Soniga of Hotel Landmark Macau and Wang Yuan of Holiday Inn Macau.
In the evening, MGTO held a dinner banquet, attended by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr Chui Sai On, to celebrate “World Tourism Day”.

The Macau government has funneled up to US$75 million into a local bank faced with cash shortages after being accused by the U.S. of money laundering for North Korea, the finance secretary said.

Banco Delta Asia SARL has enough assets to meet its long-term liabilities, but the bank has faced short-term problems because of heavy withdrawals by its customers, Francis Tam, Macau's secretary for economy and finance, said over the weekend.

Tam said Macau's government has supplied as much as 600 million patacas (US$75 million; euro63 million) to help the bank.

The U.S. Treasury Department last month placed Banco Delta Asia on a money-laundering blacklist, a prelude to cutting off its access to the U.S. financial system. The U.S. called the bank "a willing pawn of the North Korean government," and said its clients were engaged in smuggling and counterfeiting.

Banco Delta Asia, which is now being managed by the local government, has denied the money laundering allegations, saying its relationships with North Korean clients were legitimate and purely commercial.

However, the bank said it has since closed the accounts of all North Korean clients, and has tried to restore confidence by inviting a government-appointed team to take over management.

Banco Delta Asia is a unit of Delta Asia Group (Holdings) Ltd., a finance company run by prominent Macau businessman Stanley Au.

Macau, a tiny coastal territory of less than half a million people located just west of Hong Kong, returned from Portuguese to Chinese rule in 1999 and has prospered in recent years by capitalizing on the droves of tourists drawn by its casinos.

HONG KONG—The Macau government has called on its citizens to remain calm after bank customers queued into the street Friday to withdraw millions of dollars from branches of Banco Delta Asia, following allegations from the U.S. Treasury Department that it laundered money for North Korea.

"We want to take this opportunity to call upon depositors and citizens to keep calm," a statement carried on the Macau Special Administrative Region Web portal said.

"Do not easily listen to ungrounded rumors, have faith and confidence in the financial system of Macau, and continue to support the long-term stability and prosperity of the financial industry of Macao," said the statement.

Customers withdrew more than 40 million patacas (U.S.$5 million) Friday, in spite of denials by the bank at a hastily convened news conference.

Bank has ties with North Korea

According to the U.S. Treasury Department: "Banco Delta Asia has provided financial services for over 20 years to Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) government agencies and front companies."

"Banco Delta Asia's special relationship with the DPRK has specifically facilitated the criminal activities of North Korean government agencies and front companies," said a statement issued by Stuart Levey, the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sept. 15.

Raphael Perl, specialist in international affairs at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), told RFA's Korean service that the CRS had also been watching the bank, which has just eight branches and four offices in the former Portuguese enclave.

"We have been watching this bank for a long time, and there is no doubt in the mind of U.S. government officials that it is being used, whether willingly or unwillingly, but we say willingly, by the North Korean government to facilitate criminal activities," Perl said.

"We are going to trigger sanctions against the bank, and prohibit our banks from doing business with them. And we are going to urge other countries to do the same," he added.

The allegations were vigorously denied by Wong Kai Fun, chief operating officer of the bank's parent company, Delta Asia Financial Group.

Investigations welcomed

"We are surprised at such allegations," Wong told reporters. He said the bank had never been approached for evidence by any U.S. agency.

He confirmed that the bank had had a business relationship with a number of North Korean banks and companies spanning more than 30 years.

But he said the bank had always strictly followed international regulations to prevent money laundering.

"We welcome the inspection from the Monetary Authority of Macau and the U.S. Department of Treasury," Wong said.

The North Korean consul in Hong Kong, Li Jihao, rejected the U.S. allegations.

"We have nothing to do with illegal operations, and we don't know why the U.S. at this time publicizes such rumors," Li told RFA's Mandarin service.

'A big joke'

Known for its freewheeling attitudes, casinos and gang violence, Macau, a tiny territory comprising just two islands and a peninsula in southern China's Pearl River delta was returned to Chinese rule in 1999.

Delta Asia chairman Stanley Au, who is also a local lawmaker and former gold trader, called the allegations "a big joke" via a telephone link to the press conference.

Speaking from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Au chuckled: "I am bathing in the beautiful sunshine on an Indian Ocean beach."

But he said the group had transferred enough funds from its Hong Kong subsidiaries to handle the run on the bank in Macau, and pledged legal action in the United States.

Levey's report claimed that senior officials in Banco Delta Asia were working with North Korean officials to accept large deposits of cash, including counterfeit U.S. currency, and agreeing to place that currency into circulation.

"One well-known DPRK front company that has been a client of Banco Delta Asia for over a decade has conducted numerous illegal activities, including distributing counterfeit currency and smuggling counterfeit tobacco products," Levey wrote.

"In addition to facilitating illicit activities of the DPRK, investigations reveal that Banco Delta Asia has serviced a multi-million dollar account on behalf of a known international drug trafficker," the statement said.

MACAO - A high-level government-business dialogue on development, co-hosted by the United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and International Trade Center (ITC), was kicked off here on Tuesday.

Over 100 representatives from some 30 countries and regions, most of which from the Asia-Pacific, attended the conference, two months ahead of the sixth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), scheduled for December in Hong Kong.

Kim Hak-Su, executive secretary of the UNESCAP, told the opening ceremony that the Macao conference is hopefully to do a preparation job for the forthcoming WTO ministerial meeting.

Kim said the participants including government officials, business leaders, researchers, and trade policy analysts are to gain a greater common understanding on the key regional issues covering agriculture and textile.

Kim, also the UN under-secretary general, said the Macao conference is hopefully to aid reinforce the interplay between regionalism and multilateralism.

The three-day meeting will conclude on Thursday.

China's Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government and the central government's Ministry of Science and Technology on Thursday clinched a deal to forge a joint committee of science and technology cooperation.

Jing Xiaoming and Tong Chi Kin, officials on behalf of the ministry and the MSAR government respectively, signed the agreement.

The committee, according to the deal, is to help enhance the cooperation in sectors of Chinese traditional medicine, environment protection, information technology and science publicity.

Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the MSAR, Xu Guanhua, minister of science and technology, and scores of other officials, attended the signing ceremony.

Source: Xinhua

A five-day Taiwanese agricultural fair, which drew huge crowds, concluded here at the Macao Tower Square on Friday.

Around 50 stalls have been set up to hustle and promote over 200 farming items including fruits, dried sea food and Taiwan snacks during the Hualien Agricultural Products Fair, organized by the Hualien county, Taiwan province.

All the products on show were dubbed "naturally grown," and attracted many local customers.

A Taiwan Agricultural Products Exhibition was successfully held here in June, which stimulated the Hualien show, the organizers told media.

Local analysts said Macao has recently been playing the role as the platform for the economic exchanges between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

Source: Xinhua

10/10/2005 15:26

Macau has recorded 1.83 million border crossing during the Chinese mainland's "Golden Week" holiday from Oct. 1 to 7, an official statement said in Macau on Monday.
The statement issued by the Information Bureau said the number of tourist arrivals during the period totaled 432,940, an year-on-year increase of 8.36 percent.
Turn-over figures of Macau's tourism-related businesses including gaming industry, hotels, restaurants and shops remained flat, compared with the same period of last year, according to the statement.

MACAO, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Visitor arrivals in package tours totaled 255,237 in August in Macao, an year-on-year rise of 13.2 percent, according to official statistics issued here on Wednesday.

The figures released by the Statistics and Census Service indicated that arrivals in package tours from January to August grew 7.1 percent over the same period of 2004.

There were 10,549 rooms available in the region's hotels and similar establishments till August, an increase of 13.7 percent over the same period of 2004, the figures showed.

In August, a total of 384,807 guests checked into hotels and similar establishments in Macao, a year-on-year rise of 2.1 percent, according to the statistics.

China Unicom Ltd yesterday started operations of a CDMA 1x mobile network in Macao, as part of its expansion drive outside the Chinese mainland.

Unicom, the second largest cellular operator on the mainland, will offer roaming services, based on the CDMA 1x standard, to tourists visiting Macao from the mainland and other parts of the world.

Additionally, "In a years time, Unicom will apply (to local regulators) to offer mobile telecom services such as voice, data and multimedia, to local residents in Macao," said company chairman Chang Xiaobing.

Unicom won a service licence bidding from the Macao government in March to operate a CDMA mobile network in the Macao Special Administrative Region, defeating four other bidders, including SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings and Macao's leading operator, Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macao.

Having obtained the licence, China Unicom became the first mainland telecom operator to offer mobile services outside the mainland.

Unicom Vice-President Lu Jianguo said the roaming service could prove very lucrative for the company.

Macao has a population of more than 440,000, served by three GSM operators.

Previously there was no CDMA service provider, thus CDMA users from outside Macao were unable to operate their mobile phones there.

CDMA is popular in South Korea, Japan, North America as well as the Chinese mainland.

The Macao government is hoping the CDMA roaming service could boost the region's tourist, exhibition and gambling sectors and meet demands for CDMA services during big events such as sports games and entertainment activities.

"We will be able to offer CDMA roaming services at the 4th Macao East Asian Games which will be held later this month," said Lu.

"The demands for mobile communications in Macao have been growing since it was returned to the motherland six years ago."

China Unicom is the second largest CDMA network operator in the world in terms of subscription base, trailing US operator Verizon.

"I expect Unicom will overtake Verizon (as the world's largest CDMA operator) next year," Lu said.

Unicom has more than 120 million mobile subscribers, including 31.66 million CDMA users.

China now has more than 370 million mobile phone subscribers, boasting the world's largest mobile subscriber base.

Lu would not specify the total investment it has made in the CDMA networks in Macao.

The company previously said it planned to spend 250 million yuan (US$31.25 million).

Marching into the mobile market in Macao marks an important step for Unicom's overseas expansion strategy, said Lu.

"We hope to accumulate experience of operating networks outside the mainland to drive our overseas expansion," he said.

Lu would not predict when Unicom will start making profits from the networks built in Macao.

Although the domestic market still offers big opportunities, mainland operators are now looking for business opportunities overseas, a move that is encouraged by the government.

Unicom's arch-rival China Mobile has been reportedly talking with several overseas operators for acquisition opportunities.

China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd, China Mobile's listing arm in Hong Kong, has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire the China Resources Peoples Telephone Co Ltd, the fourth-largest mobile telecom operator in Hong Kong.

Peoples Telephone had 1.21 million mobile users by June.

The acquisition, if successful, will help China Mobile expand roaming revenues generated by its users touring Hong Kong. China Mobile had recorded 231 million subscribers in August.

Macao's tourist price index (TPI) stood at 108.06 for the third quarter of 2005, a year-on-year rise of 1.59 percent, according to official statistics issued here on Monday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) indicated that the TPI for the third quarter was up by 0.16 percent over the previous quarter.

The SCS attributes the increase of the index to rising prices in cosmetics, hotel guest rooms and jewelry.

TPI is an indicator used to reflect the price fluctuation of goods and services concerning visitors, which is compiled based on the consumption pattern of visitors derived from the visitor expenditure survey.

TPI covers eight sections of goods and services, including food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, clothing and footwear, accommodation, restaurant service, transport and communications, medicine and personal goods, entertainment and culture, as well as miscellaneous goods.

Source: Xinhua

The former Portuguese colony of Macau is hoping to draw more travellers from Thailand after the Macau Historical Centre _ the oldest and most complete European architectural legacy on Chinese territory _ was declared a World Heritage site earlier this year. Mr Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, recently led a week-long roadshow to Thailand during which he highlighted Macau's emerging reputation as a tourist attraction for Asian travellers keen to learn about its place in history and its links with Europe.

In July this year, the Macau Historical Centre became the 31st landmark in China to be granted World Heritage status, five years after Macau reverted to Chinese rule.

Today it's an administrative region of southeast China comprising Macau peninsula and two offshore islands in the South China Sea west of Hong Kong.

Visiting Macau tourists can admire historic buildings, mansions, cathedrals, and fortresses that stand out by their distinct Portuguese overtones. Altogether, the centre showcases 25 exceptional architectural wonders for which daily tours _ 10am to 4pm _ are available.

Macau should not only be recognised for its casinos, said Mr Antunes, because this part of China began as a Portuguese trading post in 1557 and then became a bedrock of European presence in Southeast Asia after Portugal declared it a free port some 300 years later. Since then it has been a melting pot of Southeast Asian and European cultures.

Casinos aside, one of the most famous annual events on its tourist calendar is the Macau Grand Prix scheduled November 17-20. First held in 1954, it draws top motor-racing names and tourists from around the world.

Mr Antunes said 41,000 Thais travelled to Macau in 2004 and he expects the number to double this year as low-cost airlines have joined travel agents and come up with attractive packages for travellers.

He also wants to see more Thai families stopping over in Macau before travelling on to Hong Kong or cities in mainland China.

Mr Antunes also noted that passenger traffic either way _ between Bangkok and Macau _ had risen for the same reason and that Thailand was now a preferred choice for Macau residents travelling overseas.

To cope with the increase, he is exploring the possibility of asking low-cost carriers to increase daily flights between the two cities.

Casinos may be the main reason why Thais travel to Macau, but Mr Antunes said the purpose of the roadshow was to drive home the message that Macau also offer endless family activities, sights and sounds to mesmerise young as well as elderly people.

Macau endears itself to tourists because you can explore its attractions on foot.

For young travellers who crave a challenge, it has a 32-metre-high wall where they can test their climbing skills. Portuguese cultural and dance shows are the other attractions, while a telescope mounted at a vantage point offers panoramic view of the city and its landmarks.

Food festivals are a regular feature. Macau recently invited famous Thai chef and talk-show host Mr Yingsak Chonglertjessadawong for a demonstration of his cooking skills at a symposium featuring Thai cuisine.

Thai AirAsia, meanwhile, is offering three-day/two-night packages to Macau that come with a starting price of 8,888 baht per person and include roundtrip airfares, accommodation and sightseeing tours.

Because of its proximity, Macau also plans to market itself as a MICE destination to attract Thailand-based companies looking for alternative conference/seminar destinations.

THE Chinese mainland will exempt trade tariffs from all products made in Macau from 2006, a senior mainland official said yesterday.

Liao Xiaoqi, vice commerce minister, made the announcement at the conclusion of a one-day meeting with officials of the Macau Special Administrative Region. Liao said after the discussions on the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, a pact to boost bilateral economic ties between Macau and the mainland, the two sides signed a supplementary agreement under CEPA.

MACAO, Oct. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese mainland will exempt trade tariffs on all products made in Macao from 2006, a senior mainland official said here on Friday.

Liao Xiaoqi, deputy minister of China's Ministry of Commerce, made the announcement while talking to media at the conclusion of a one-day meeting with officials of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR).

Liao said after the discussions on the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), a pact to boost the bilateral economic ties between Macao and the mainland, the two sides signed a supplementary agreement under the CEPA.

Under the agreement, said the official, the mainland will exempt tariffs on all Macao products, except for those being restricted by the Chinese law.

The mainland will also lift entry qualifications of nine service industries, which have been opened up to Macao, according to the agreement.

Since CEPA took effect at the beginning of 2004, the mainland has opened up 26 service industries to Macao.

Liao said the further development of CEPA will provide more business opportunities for both Macao and the mainland.

The Chinese mainland and Macao SAR Thursday entered a final round of talks on details of the third phase of CEPA, or Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement. Talks on the third phase arrangement began in May, and are designed to give zero tariff treatment to more products from Macao. The talks will continue today focusing on the certification form of product origin and further opening up the region's service sector. SAR chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah is expected to sign the documents later today.

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--A Macau casino operator controlled by gaming mogul Stanley Ho is seeking to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reports.

Citing sources, the newspaper says that Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, SA, or SJM - which holds one of Macau's three gaming concessions to operate casinos in the city - has been reorganizing the company's businesses and has formed a holding company in preparation for its proposed listing.

SJM will need to secure approval from the Macau government before it can proceed with its listing, the report says. Any changes over 5% in the shareholding structure of a casino concession holder must receive regulatory approval.

The approval process is complicated and will take SJM "longer than usual" to list its shares, when compared with other Macau-related companies that listed in Hong Kong, the newspaper says.

SJM is a unit of conglomerate Sociedade De Turismo e Diversoes De Macau, the city's largest company by assets that is controlled by Stanley Ho. It operates 16 casinos in Macau.

Other shareholders include Hong Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. (0242.HK), which is also controlled by Ho's family, and Cheng Yu-tung, chairman of Hong Kong property developer New World Development Co. (0017.HK).

SJM was granted a license to operate casinos in Macau in 2002, after the city liberalized its gaming market. Previously, its parent company STDM had a monopoly in the gaming market for about 40 years.

The other licenses are held by two consortia led by Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Venetian in Las Vegas, and Steve Wynn, of U.S.-based Wynn Resorts.

Macao's composite consumer price index (CCPI) in September rose 5.24 percent year-on-year, standing at 99.28, according to official statistics issued here on Tuesday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the index grew 4 percent in the first nine months over the same period of last year.

The SCS dues the rise of CCPI to the rising prices in housing rent, food stuff and beverage and the increase of school tuition fees in the new semester.

Source: Xinhua

The US official who last month cited Macau for shortcomings in its money- laundering controls said he is encouraged by the territory's moves to address US government concerns.

Zach Coleman

Thursday, October 27, 2005

The US official who last month cited Macau for shortcomings in its money- laundering controls said he is encouraged by the territory's moves to address US government concerns.

"I've been encouraged by the reaction I had in Macau, including a meeting that I had with [Chief Executive Edmund] Ho," US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes Stuart Levey said in Hong Kong.

"They are obviously taking these issues very seriously. We have a very good understanding between us about how important this is, not just to Macau but to the United States, and how we believe this implicates our national security."

Levey last month proposed requiring US banks to block Macau's Banco Delta Asia from conducting transactions in the United States in response to the bank's alleged involvement in North Korean money laundering.

The proposal touched off a HK$300 million run on the bank and led to the Hong Kong and Macau monetary authorities taking over management of the bank's operations in each territory.

Macau also stepped in to provide up to 500 million patacas (HK$485 million) to support the bank.

The proposal prodded the Macau government to complete what had been years of drafting work on a new money- laundering bill. Following its approval by Macau's Executive Council, the bill is to be presented to the Legislative Assembly tomorrow.

"Putting that money-laundering law in place is absolutely essential given the nature of their financial system and the amount of commerce that occurs in Macau," Levey said after his meetings with Ho, Macau Monetary Authority chairman Anselmo Teng, Secretary of Economy and Finance Francis Tam and Secretary of Administration and Justice Florinda Chan.

Yet Levey indicated that passage of the bill will not itself lead to lifting of the sanctions threat against Delta Asia.

"It's not just passing laws," he said. "It's implementing them and enforcing them. I perceived a real commitment to do that. We'll be in touch with them and watching closely."

Levey declined to comment on reports that the US Treasury is investigating Seng Heng Bank and Bank of China (Macau) on suspicion of similar misconduct.

"I don't want people to think that there are specific financial institutions that are `under investigation,"' he said but added, "our concerns are not just connected to the action that we took against Banco Delta Asia. These are longstanding concerns."

Levey also met with top officials in Hong Kong and Singapore and left Wednesday for more such meetings in Beijing after singling out Hong Kong for praise. "They have a good [anti- money-laundering] system in place and they have also been quite cooperative with us."

The US Treasury has been urging both Hong Kong and Macau to implement procedures to spotlight travelers carrying large amounts of cash across their borders, recommending that they adopt the US practice of requiring travelers with cash stashes to declare these on entry.

But after discussing the issue with Financial Secretary Henry Tang and other officials, Levey said: "That's not the only way to do it."

Hong Kong Commissioner for Narcotics Rosanna Ure, who also met with Levey, said earlier this year that a money-laundering bill to be presented by year-end will authorize customs and immigration officials to demand that suspicious visitors declare their cash holdings. She said asking the same of all visitors will be unworkable given the amount of traffic into Hong Kong.

Regarding terrorism, Levey said: "There's certainly a threat of terrorism in the region. Whenever one is in Asia one has to think about Jemaah Islamiyah as a very potent terrorist threat."

Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to be linked to several terrorist attacks in Indonesia, possibly including this month's bombing in Bali that killed 23 people.

"It's perhaps the most potent of the al-Qaeda affiliates," Levey said.

BEIJING (AFX) - China's Macau needs to do more to fight money laundering in the wake of accusations that one of its banks is a 'willing pawn' for corrupt financial activities on behalf of North Korea, a US official said.

Stuart Levey, US Treasury Department Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, told media in Beijing that he held encouraging meetings with Macau authorities on the issue, after the US named Banco Delta Asia in September as a money laundering concern under the US Patriot Act.

He noted, however, that more needs to be done to address money laundering on the island.

'We indicated that when we took this action against Banco Delta Asia some of the significant concerns that we have about the money laundering controls or lack therefore in Macau and I think that they also recognize that situation and indicated to me that they were going to take action to improve the situation,' he said.

The US' proposed rule against Banco Delta Asia, if finalized without change, could stop the bank from accessing the US financial markets via US banks and other institutions.

'We can do any one of a number of things, ranging from changing our mind and lifting the designation to making final exactly the proposal that was made, to continue to monitor the situation, or even to change the proposed protective measure that we might want to take,' Levey said.

'All of those options are on the table on this action.'

Banco Delta Asia has denied the US money laundering claims.

Levey said that while the Treasury Department had not set a timeframe for its decision on Banco Delta, he did not want to see undue delays to a final ruling.

He also refused to confirm or deny whether the US is investigating Bank of China for money laundering links, after media reported that Washington was scrutinizing the major state-run lender for potential connections to North Korea's fund-raising networks.

Levey has met with China's central bank, its banking and foreign exchange regulators, as well as commerce, public security and foreign ministry officials during his visits to Macau, Hong Kong and Beijing.

'I've been very impressed by the seriousness that Chinese officials are taking all these issues, including all the illicit finance issues,' he said.

He raised with them US concerns over North Korea's production of 'high quality' counterfeits of US currency -- 'something that we obviously take with great seriousness', he said.

The US has blacklisted 16 North Korean entities as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, freezing assets they hold under US jurisdiction and forbidding them from carrying out transactions with US citizens and entities.

Levey said that the international community could use its joint fight against terrorism, which targets terrorists' funding bases, as a model for its campaign against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

'On this trip I was discussing with my counterparts (that) there's potential, I think, to expand that sort of cooperation to the financial underpinning of the proliferation of weapon of mass destruction,' he said.

The US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia are engaged in long-running talks with North Korea over its potential to develop nuclear weapons.

Washington has said it suspects North Korea is using illicit financing to pay for its nuclear program.

MACAO, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi on Saturday praised the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) for its speedy economic development.

Wu made the remarks while meeting here with representatives of Macao-based offices of mainland governmental agencies and companies.

She said she saw great changes in Macao compared with her last tour here in 2003.

The vice-premier hailed the MSAR for its impressive GDP growth rate of 28 percent in 2004, noting Macao has tackled many difficulties and made lots of courageous moves to secure the economic success.

She said Macao's success was a proof of the validity of the policy of "One country, two systems."

She on behalf of the central government extended the gratitude to Macao-based mainland governmental offices and companies for their dedication to Macao's fast development.

She encouraged the mainland officials and businessmen to maintain their support to Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah and the MSAR government to enhance the cooperation between the mainland and Macao.

The vice-premier arrived here earlier Saturday to open the fourth East Asian Games, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 29 toNov. 6. Enditem

Luxury hotelier Shangri-La Asia Ltd. said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. to manage two of its hotels in the Chinese gaming enclave of Macau.

Shangri-La will manage the 500-room Shangri-La hotel and the mid-market Traders hotel with 1,000 rooms, both located on the Cotai Strip in the former Portuguese colony.

The value of the agreement wasn't disclosed.

The hotels, which will occupy the same building, will open in 2008, the company said. The new hotels form a complex that will house a casino, performance hall and a shopping mall, none of which will be operated by Shangri-La.

"There has been tremendous growth in tourism to Macau in the last couple of years due to the destination's spectacular development and increasing appeal to mainland Chinese and international travelers," said Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La's chief executive.

"Given the strong loyalty to the Shangri-La brand in the region, and our growing worldwide profile, we see great potential for our new Macau properties."

Las Vegas Sands is among the two new casino operators granted licenses in Macau since 2002 when the local government ended a four-decade monopoly held by gaming mogul Stanley Ho.

The U.S. company, which operates the Venetian Casino Resort in Las Vegas, opened the Sands Macau casino in May last year and hopes to develop the Cotai area into Macau's version of the Las Vegas Strip.

Shangri-La operates 48 hotels and resorts in key cities in Asia and the Middle East and expects to add another 48 in the next few years in Asia, North America and Europe.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1999. The tiny territory - only a 10th the size of Washington, D.C. - includes a peninsula and two islands in the Pearl River delta in southern China. It is renowned for its gambling and nightlife.

LAS VEGAS – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) announced today that Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts -- which manages 49 hotels and more than 22,000 rooms -- will manage two hotels inside a 39-floor building being built by Las Vegas Sands on the Cotai Strip(TM) in Macao, Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Shangri-La Hotels will operate both the Shangri-La Hotel, Macao and the Traders Hotel, Macao, while Las Vegas Sands Corp. will own and operate the casino, showrooms, and retail shopping mall to be housed in the same building. Las Vegas Sands Corp. also plans to develop vacation suites within the hotel.

The combined 500-room Shangri-La Hotel and the 1,000-room Traders hotel, situated less than a three-minute drive from the Macao International Airport, will be located across from the 3,000-suite Venetian Macao, which is currently under construction on the Cotai Strip(TM).

"This is an exciting time for us as we put together the pieces needed to make the Cotai Strip(TM) a 'must see' destination for Asia's business and leisure travelers. Having one of Asia's most recognizable and dominant brands on board will help us do just that. We look forward to working with Shangri-La Hotels for years to come," said Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

"By adding companies to the Cotai Strip(TM) that combine a significant presence in mainland China with a recognizable brand and a loyal following, we further enhance our ability to target and attract a variety of market segments and with it produce an unprecedented amount of convention and leisure travelers," said William P. Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

The deluxe Shangri-La hotel will feature a full service business center; CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La; recreational facilities (including a health club and indoor and outdoor pools); and stylish dining. In addition, the hotel will offer several Horizon Club floors that offer exclusive privileges including dedicated concierge service, express check-in and check-out, complimentary meeting space and lounge for complimentary cocktails and refreshments. Traders Hotel, catering to the mid-market travel segment, will offer a comprehensive range of facilities and swift friendly services at competitive rates.

The thematically-designed building will be highlighted by a 100,000 square foot casino and a two-level retail mall. The hotels, which should open in 2008, will also feature significant meeting space -- consistent with a Las Vegas Sands' strategy focused on attracting Asia's burgeoning MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Convention, and Exhibition) business.

"There has been a tremendous growth in tourism to Macao in the last couple of years due to the destination's spectacular development and increasing appeal to mainland Chinese and international travelers," said Giovanni Angelini, chief executive officer and managing director of Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts. "Given the strong loyalty to the Shangri-La brand in the region, and our growing worldwide profile, we see great potential for our Macao properties."

The Cotai Strip is a master planned development of resort casino properties on Cotai, an area of reclaimed land between the islands of Taipa and Coloane in Macao. The Venetian Macao will occupy 10.5 million square feet of space and serve as the anchor of the Cotai Strip. The luxury resort will feature 3,000 suites, a 1.2 million square foot meeting and exhibition facility, a 2,000 seat showroom, 850,000 square feet of retail mall space, and a 15,000 seat arena.

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that, in September 2005, Macao's total value of exports amounted to MOP2.08 billion, up 5.4% over the same month of 2004.

Among this, the value of domestic exports increased 8.3% to MOP1.64 billion and the value of re-exports fell 4.4% to MOP437 million.

Value of imports amounted to MOP2.93 billion, up 16.5% over the same period of 2004. A trade deficit of MOP851 million was recorded this month.

During the period of January - September 2005, the value of total exports decreased 20.6% year-on-year to MOP13.37 billion.

Among this, the value of domestic exports and re-exports decreased 26.4% and 1.5% respectively. Meanwhile, the value of imports amounted to MOP22.20 billion, up 8.6% over the same period of 2004.

In the first nine months of 2005, Macao's trade balance registered a deficit of MOP8.83 billion. During this period, the exports/imports ratio decreased from 82.4% in the corresponding period of 2004 to 60.2%.

In the first nine months of 2005, the value of Textile & garment exports, which accounted for 76.6% of the total exports, decreased 24.2% over the same period of 2004.

Moreover, the value of Non-textile exports also dropped 6.1%. As the major components of non-textile exports, Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof expanded 9.2%, whereas Footwear fell 91.2% year-on-year.

The USA and the EU remained as Macao's major export markets, together making up 63.4% of the total value of exports. Among this, exports to the USA, which made up 49.3% of the total value of exports, decreased 19.7% over the same period of 2004; exports to the EU, which made up 14.1% of the total value of exports, also decreased 48.2% over the same period of 2004.

MACAO, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Macao's exports and imports rose 5.4 percent and 16.5 percent respectively in September over the same period of 2004, according to official statistics issued here on Friday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the value of exports in the first nine months recorded a year-on-year drop of 20.6 percent, while the value of imports logged an increase of 8.6 percent.

The figures showed that textile and garment exports, which accounted for 76.6 percent of Macao's total export value, have witnessed a slide-down through the first nine months.

Analysts viewed it as a major factor which led to the sharp plunge of the region's exports through the year.

Meanwhile, the rise of the imports is mainly due to the climbing fuel prices

Macau, 09 March – The total assets of Macau’s banking sector increased 26.6 percent in 2005 to US$28.11 billion, the president of Macau’s monetary authority, Anselmo Teng Lin Seng, said Wednesday.

Speaking at the reception of the Spring Festival, Teng said that bank deposits increased by 29.4 percent to US$24 billion while loans increased 24.1 percent to US$8.47 billion.

Teng also said that minimum cash reserves stood at around 15 percent, practically double the percentage recommended by the Basel Commission.

The sector’s profits increased by 123.6 percent to US$429.8 million, Teng said, adding that in 2005 three banks began operations in Macau, two of which are for offshore operations.

Teng added that the Special Autonomous Region of Macau had foreign exchange reserves of US$6.9 billion, an annual increase of 22.7 percent.


In Macauhub


Go Go Macau...!!! Macau goes fast as in GP weekend...

Press Release from the MSAR Gov't Website:

二零零六年六月消費物價指數 (http://www.gov.mo/egi/Portal/rkw/public/view/showcomp.jsp?id=InfoShowTemp&docid=c373e90c8eedbba18f7fd447711410cf)

Índice de Preços no Consumidor (IPC) referente a Junho de 2006 (http://www.gov.mo/egi/Portal/rkw/public/view/showcomp.jsp?id=InfoShowTemp&docid=c373e90c8eedf8d08f7fd447711410cf)

Results of the Consumer Price Index for June 2006 (http://www.gov.mo/egi/Portal/rkw/public/view/showcomp.jsp?id=InfoShowTemp&docid=c373e90c8eee36c18f7fd447711410cf)

Macau's visitor arrivals hit record 2 million in October
27 November 2006

HONG KONG (AP) - Macau's visitor arrivals in October rose 19.6 percent from a year earlier to 2 million, setting a new record for a single month, the Chinese territory's government said.

Visitors from mainland China rose 10.3 percent in October on year, while arrivals from Hong Kong jumped 36.7 percent, the Statistics and Census Service said on its Web site Monday. The numbers rose partly because two of China's national holidays were celebrated in October, officials said.

Macau -- the only place in China with legal casino gambling -- received 17.9 million visitors in the January-October period, up 15.9 percent from the same time last year, officials said.

The gambling industry predicts that Macau's tourism will continue to boom as local and foreign casino companies like Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Mirage Inc. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. finish building massive shopping, hotel and resort complexes.

The expanded scale of the casino business and relaxed travel arrangements with mainland China have doubled the size of Macau's tourism business over the past decade. In the early 1990s, Macau usually hosted less than 8 million visitors a year.

The former Portuguese enclave includes a peninsula and two small islands off China's southern coast, about 40 miles west of Hong Kong.

Since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1999, it has been governed under a "one country, two systems" formula, designed to allow it a wide degree of autonomy.

DST is doing an impressive job!

good news for macau !! :)

Macao sees GDP grow 15 pct in 2006

Macao's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 15 percent in real terms in 2006, local media reported Friday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for Economy and Finance, as saying that Macao's rapid economic growth had resulted in a host of challenges including "unbalanced development, " human resources shortages and inflation.

Macao's inflation rate stood at 5.15 percent in 2006, as against 4.40 percent in 2005, the official was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

A government-run Human Resources Bureau would be set up "as soon as possible" in a bid to raise efficiency in processing import labor applications, said the official.

The special administrative region's GDP rose 6.7 percent in 2005 and 28.4 percent in 2004.

http://english.people.com.cn/200703/24/eng20070324_360624.html

the inflation rate is a bit too high i believe, wish the government can do something about it

From Sunday Morning Post, HK, 1 April 2007
Of particular surprise is how much Macau's GDP has overtaken HK's and growth rate. Also, the wage levels in gaming seemed to have accerlerated further.


Macau Beats HK in GDP Growth

Macau's casino-driven economy has overtaken Hong Kong in per capita gross domestic growth for the first time - sparking warnings of worsening social problems and an overheating housing market.
Figures released by the Macau government show per capita GDP last year was 227,508 patacas, compared with Hong Kong's HK$214,710.
In 2005, Macau's per capita GDP was 194,500 patacas, while that of Hong Kong was HK$202,941.....
Tourism also boomed, with visitors jumping to 22 million last year, up from 7 million in 1999.
But Macau legislator Kwan Tsui-hang warned the increased wealth was an illusion that did not reflect the true picture of the living standards of ordinary people...
The cost of living had become higher and more people struggled to make ends meet, she said....
The median monthly wage in the fourth quarter of last year was 7,300 patacas, while workers in the gaming industry had average earnings of 14,000 patacas.
Property consultant CB Richard Ellis warned in a report: "Investors are sceptical that the massive scale of retail development under way appears to be out of line with demand that can be realistically expected in Macau in the near future.
"Concerns were also expressed about whether Macau's existing infrastructure would be capable of supporting the operation of the [gaming] facilities and providing access to the number of patrons necessary for their success."

It is a good sign in the overall picture. Now the government should do something to level out the salary level and keep this trend going.

A principal official admitted that Macau's rapid economic development in recent years has brought some 'significant' social problems.

Secretary for the Economy and Finance Tam Pak Yuen (譚伯源) agreed with the negative opinion of the society on the recent publication of Macau's GDP figures, being the highest on record and overcome Hong Kong for the first time.

He said that the figures 'do not help much' in improving the living conditions of the general public as well as policy formulation that aims to improve the livelihood of the population.

He emphasised that improving the livelihood and living conditions of the population has consistently been the priority of the Government. Since the problems Macau is currently facing are 'comprehensive', a 'comprehensive' solution is necessary.

Tam also admitted that although the economic progress in recent years did improve the employment situation, the complementary measures and policies indeed do not catch up with the speed of development.

He expected policies to improve the livelihood and living conditions of the population to be announced in due course, and the Government cannot allow the gap between the rich and the poor to continue to widen.

Recent economic figures show that Macau's economy expanded by 16.6% in 2006, and GDP value stood at MOP227,508 (approximately USD28,439), ranking the third in Asia.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/3/2854300.html)

It is a good sign in the overall picture. Now the government should do something to level out the salary level and keep this trend going.

and solve the widen grap problem between the rich and poor

From 8 April Sunday Morning Post

Macau homes prices - place your bets
[See One Central Residences stream for main article, below is just the economic background in story]

....By the end of 2009, Macau may add 20,000 five-star hotel rooms to he 11,700 existing ... as visitor numbers increase to 2.5m per month by 2009 from the present 1.7m per month.
The burgeoning casino business and allied property boom helped Macau's GDP grow 15.4% in the first three quarters of last year, up from 6.7% in 2005.
They also helped the unemployment rate drop to 3.5% in December from 4.1% at the beginning of last year, with more than 30,000 people being employed by the gaming industry.
Macau's gaming revenue could grow at 19% compound annual growth rate from 2006-10, creating about 100,000 jobs, said Gavin Ho, senior gaming analyst at CLSA. "New Labour has to find a place to live" he said.
The booming gaming business migh also have been triggering pay increases, he said.
For example, a dealer after training received a monthly salary equivalent to about HK$18k in 2006 up from HK$12k a year earlier, according to Mr Ho.
The city's government has announced an ambitious 20-year development plan to support the surgin economy and an estimated 27% increase in population to 610k by 2023 from 480k in 2005. The plan includes reclaiming 298 hectares of land from the sea, mostly along the Macau peninsula and Taipa, increasing the former enclave's total land area by 11% to 31.18 sq km...

I'm just amazed at the rate it is growing. It will be interesting to see what Macau will be after 20 years.

Did you know that 17.5 percent of Macau population lives in poverty?

Before we are going to far, let's think about those people who are living a daily hell at the expense of others!!!

Macau’s lawmakers, associations and analysts have said it constantly-there’s a razor sharp divide between the rich and poor. Now, a new report confirms this. “The Study About the Population’s Quality of Life” attests that the gap between Macau’s rich and poor is widening. The figures show that 17.5 percent of Macau lives in poverty, despite the fact that the city has been experiencing strong economic growth. About half the population says they’re satisfied with their lives. The study was coordinated by academics and policy analysts from Macau and Hong Kong.

Looking at the study’s results, one obvious question comes to mind: why is it that about one-sixth of the population isn’t profiting from this economic dynamism? Several reasons compound the problem. According to the report’s polls, low academic qualifications, social injustice and laziness are a few factors contributing to poverty. The report further says that inflation is another matter that effects the poor and middle-class - which, according to the Census Bureau, reached 5.15 percent in 2006. The rising price of goods has been creating serious difficulties for many families. The president of Caritas Macau-a social support NGO-Paul Pun, warns that Macau’s “economic growth is not benefiting a significant part of the population”. The same conclusion is drawn by Larry So, a social policy expert teaching at the Polytechnic Institute of Macau. He teaches his students that “economic growth doesn’t mean development”.

Read more => Macau Poverty (http://macaudailyblog.com/general/175-of-macau-population-lives-in-poverty/)

in macau the top 20% richest earn an average of above $30,000 MOP per month and the bottom 20% only earn $6,000 MOP

When I was back last year I was surprised that everything is getting a lot expensive, the poorer one will be difficult to survive these days I guess

However, same is happening in HK to some degree. Lowest income are off 15-30% (eg taxi drivers now get 7k compared with 10k). Middle income off 10% since 1997, and top 10% are even. This is despite the 2-3 year recent recovery. However, probably this year, things will be better.
I think there will be a trickle down effect eventually for Macau. I'm sure things will be much, much worse if there is no investment boom, and now the gov't has money to spend on maybe building more public housing.

yea, i wish things will go better soon, but the poorer one can work in the casinos-related jobs, this is probably one adventage for people live in macau and i actually know some poorer one working in casinos because they can get a lot higher paid to support their families and studies.

From 2 May, The Standard, HK

Shots fired in Macau rally

Damon Pang and agencies

Wednesday, May 02, 2007


http://www.thestandard.com.hk/newsimage/20070502/FIRE.jpg

Macau police fired at least five shots into the air Tuesday in one of the most violent rallies seen in the former Portuguese enclave since the handover in 1999, witnesses said.

A labor demonstration demanding tougher laws against illegal workers entering Macau erupted into a series of violent scuffles.
Acting security police chief Lei Sio- peng said one officer fired blank shots.
"The officer fired the shots with the aim of dispersing the crowd as he saw some people starting to fall and feared they could trample each other. We see that as a justified reason [to fire shots]," he said.
However, democratic lawmaker Au Kam-san, who took part in the march, disagreed, saying the shooting was "absolutely inappropriate."
"The demonstrators carried only a few water bottles. They definitely did not pose a threat to the officer's safety. We may pursue this incident."
According to Au, the demonstrators were mostly grassroots laborers, including construction and casino workers, as well as the jobless.
Another lawmaker, Jose Pereira Coutinho, who witnessed the shooting, said it was an unnecessary use of force and only served to inflame passions.
"The shots were fired without warning. It was pure luck that no one was hurt," Coutinho said, adding the shots fired were not blanks.
However, a man riding a motorcycle around 3pm near where the scuffles broke out, was hit on the back by an unknown object. He was taken to Conde S Januario Hospital for treatment.
The hospital de http://www.thestandard.com.hk/newsimage/20070502/night.jpgclined to provide further details of his injury.
The march started from northern Macau around 2pm with demonstrators waving banners and chanting slogans calling for the resignation of Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah.
Organizers said there were 10,000 workers in the march. Police put their number at only 2,500.
The marchers also stopped outside a mortuary where preparations were underway for the funeral of Ho Hao- chio, a brother of Edmund Ho, chanting more slogans against the chief executive. "We have been forced by the government to revolt," shouted one demonstrator. Chaos broke out when the marchers reached the crossroads of Avenida do Coronel Mesquita and Avenida do Almirante Lacerda, where they argued with police over the route of the march. Several dozen demonstrators then threw water bottles.
Police responded with batons, dogs and pepper spray against demonstrators who broke through two of three police lines.
Several demonstrators were forced to the ground by police before being escorted away with their arms and legs tied, according to witnesses.
Shops pulled down their shutters as a water-cannon crew was put on alert to keep demonstrators from entering Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, the main street of the business district that leads to the government headquarters.
The standstill, with police holding positions behind several rows of cordons, lasted into the evening.
At about 7pm, riot police took action to disperse the few hundred demonstrators who continued to gather around Avenida Marginal do Patane, near a wet market.
Blowing whistles, they forced the demonstrators into alleys and cleared the scene by 8pm.
The number of people arrested or injured remained unknown last night.
Macau, with a population of 513,000, saw its GDP per capita soar 16.6 percent last year, compared with rises of 28.4 and 6.9 percent respectively in 2004 and 2005, according to government figures.
The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in 2006, compared with 6.3 percent in 1999.
Macau has suffered a severe labor shortage in recent years as some of the world's wealthiest casino tycoons and companies - including MGM Mirage, Steve Wynn and Las Vegas Sands - charged into the market to build massive casino resorts, convention centers and shopping malls.
However, the workers at Tuesday's protest complained many employers hired cheap illegal laborers from the mainland and that the government was turning a blind eye to the practice.
They said the flood of illegal workers had, in turn, lowered their wages, preventing them from enjoying the fruits of the economic boom.
Some protesters carried signs saying, "Severely punish employers of black-market workers."
"There is serious collusion between the government and big business," said protester Leung Chi-keung, 55, a construction worker.
Lawmaker Antonio Ng said the local building boom had not benefited local workers.
"Those in the construction industry should have been prosperous by now with so many casino projects. But the oversupply of foreign workers has forced locals into temporary jobs," he said.
According to Macau Inter- University Institute assistant professor Tam Chi-keung, the lack of concern for resolving long-standing labor issues has undermined the casino-led economic boom.
"While the government has already embarked on a series of five-year plans aimed at improving the peoples' livelihood, the policy implementation remains too slow," Tam said.
He said it was highly possible Ho would soon introduce drastic measures to restore public confidence in his governance.
Tuesday's Labor Day rampage was one of many that have occurred over the years. On the same day last year, 27 people - most of them policemen - were injured after demonstrators broke through a police barricade outside government headquarters and nearby Senado Square.
Four people were arrested.
About 5,000 local residents took part in that protest, most of whom were middle-aged workers angry at the rise of imported workers.
In July 2000, tear gas was fired into the crowd in one of many demonstrations staged over more than a month. Rioters, some of whom were unemployed, used bamboo scaffolding as missiles.

The other side of Macau economy finally surfaces. The unnecessary firing just made it even worse.:ohno:

Macau may no longer enjoy the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) after 2008 as a result of its economic development, said an EU official.

Felipe Palacios Sureda, chief of the trade and economic affairs of the Hong Kong and Macau office of the European Commission, said that Macau is still included in the GSP for 2006 to 2008 as a developing region.

As the EU will review the list in 2008, Macau may not be able to enjoy such status given its rapid economic development.

GSP is a tax concession regime the EU grants to developing countries, with aims to help them to promote industrialisation and sustainable development.

A total of 6,400 items are included in the GSP scheme, 2,500 of which are non-sensitive items, and 3,900 are sensitive items.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/9/2935772.html)

Interesting to compare the visitor arrivals for Macau during "golden week" labour day holidays soared 30% compared with last year !!
In HK, people were also shocked to hear HK did so well as well, with overall numbers up 19.8% yoy.
So, HK/Macau seem to linked in that most tourist seem to visit both Macau and HK. However MACAU SEEMS TO DO EVEN BETTER THAN HK !! Total visitors in Macau were 590k, with China visitors up 34.7% to 390k (66% of total).
Total visitors in HK were 575.8k, with China visitors up 24.5% to 355.7k (61.7% of total). However note period is different, with HK 6 day figures.

Also, comments by HK retailers suggest the golden week sales was indeed good. This should bode well for the new shops opening in Macau. However, something like 50% of visitors to Macau stay in Macau, so Macau needs to improve this, probably with cheaper accomodation (mainlanders are known to skimp on accomodation costs, saving money instead to shop). But it also should bode well for the new shop openings, probably to the detriment of HK shops.

Likewise, results for 1Q 2007 gaming revenue look promising. Margins may or may not be slipping, costs (employment esp) rising, but visitors are gambling more. Wynn produced figures that exceeded expectations, while Sands announced a drop in net income caused by higher staff, interest costs and opening expenses of The Venetian (which must be considerable now !!) - however, there was a 24.4% increase in gaming revenues at Sands Macau. In addition, this growth occured despite new casino openings. During this period, Grand Lisboa opened (Feb), Starworld, Wynns (3Q 06) etc.
Hence, gamblers are spending more, much more. Higher costs, tho bad for Sands etc, are good for Macau's economy. This market seem far from saturated, though of course there has been some more competition !

It has been said that 1 casino opening is the equivalent of 1 HK disneyland !!! How many have opened in the past year ?? How many more will be opening ??? Today's story in HK Standard has implied HK Disney may not be able to draw on its loans !!! And what will Venetian opening do to these tourist figures/economy ??

It has been said that 1 casino opening is the equivalent of 1 HK disneyland !!! How many have opened in the past year ?? How many more will be opening ??? Today's story in HK Standard has implied HK Disney may not be able to draw on its loans !!! And what will Venetian opening do to these tourist figures/economy ??

That's really surprising.:eek:

HK Disneyland apparently had a good golden week, visitors up something like 50% to 11k (capacity supposed to be 20k). Per visitor spend has also dropped recently, and now apparently losing money on an operating basis. Recent attendance has been poor, worse than HK's Ocean Park. Apparently, a transvestite show in an obscure govt housing estate attracted more mainland visitors than Disney !.

Not sure what numbers for golden week for casino's were, but when the Grand Lisboa opened for Chinese New Year, they had 70k visitors a day !
Since visits to Macau rose 30%, mainlainder visits even more, I'm sure the casinos did well, possibly better than 30% since the Mainland stock market has created so much wealth recently !!

That bloddy Felipe Palacios Sureda thinks he is a smart guy. For a long time EU has been lead by a gang of useless politics.

Casinos are dealing well by now but how is going to be the future?

Authorities in the neighbouring mainland Chinese province of Guangdong have reportedly restrict the number of times visitors are allowed to visit Macau, along with other major measures.

The Macao Daily News reported that the period of application has also been extended to 10 days from six days, and business travel permit applications have been suspended.

Under the new measure, most residents in Guangdong are allowed to visit Macau once instead of twice, and a break is inserted between the visits. Meanwhile, urgent applications are cancelled.

Police and immigration authorities in Guangdong have so far not published any details, but travel agents and post offices have confirmed to the newspaper that these measures are being undertaken.

It is speculated that these new measures are part of the macroscopic economic adjustment and control campaign, and particularly aim to prevent excessive gambling among visitors, particularly officials with business travel permits, and also to prevent illegal working in Macau.

Trades union welcome the move, pointing out that this can suppress the atmosphere of gambling and prevent illegal working.

Legislator Kwan Tsui Hang (關翠杏), who is also the deputy Director-General of the Federation of Trades Union of Macau (FAOM), pointed out that this should give casino operators the opportunity to consider transformation of their business models, so that the gaming industry can be developed more heathily.

However, an economist worried that such measures will affect the process of diversification of gaming tourism in Macau.

Fong Ka Chio (馮家超), Director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macau, said that the effects of Macau's gaming revenue in the latter half of the year is worth watching, although he expected that the overall revenue for the whole year of 2007 will still record an increase of more than 10%.

He also pointed out that the measures would severely affect the business of VIP rooms, and they also reflect the need to promote responsible gambling.

VIP room operators told Macao Daily News that the full effects of these measures would emerge in two to three months.

Earlier, SJM admitted that its VIP room business had dropped by 10 to 15%.

Souvenir businesses expected that their business would drop by 20%, although brand products and jewellery might not be affected thanks to the spending power of the visitors, some told the Macao Daily News.

In the accompanying commentary, the Macao Daily News pointed out that casino operators should undertake measures to convince mainland authorities that they can control mainland officials from coming to gamble, and ordinary visitors will not become addicted gamblers.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/25/2973806.html)

Hopefully, affect will not be big ...

From AP 25 May 2007
Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. dipped Friday on fears travel restrictions could spell trouble for the casino operators' investments in Macau, the "Las Vegas of the East."
Macau, a Chinese territory next to the Guangdong province, has exploded into a gambling mecca of sorts in recent years after Las Vegas Sands (nyse: LVS (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=LVS) - news (http://www.forbes.com/markets/company_news.jhtml?ticker=LVS)- people (http://www.forbes.com/peopletracker/results.jhtml?startRow=0&name=&ticker=LVS)) and Wynn built casinos there. But according a local newspaper report, Guangdong has begun to tighten travel restrictions, which could make travel to the region difficult.
The government of Guangdong has started to enforce a strict visa application process, put tighter limits on the amount of times residents can travel to Macau and in some cases, is restricting permits altogether.
Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=LEH) - news (http://www.forbes.com/markets/company_news.jhtml?ticker=LEH)- people (http://www.forbes.com/peopletracker/results.jhtml?startRow=0&name=&ticker=LEH)) analyst Felicia Hendrix said it is too early to tell what the effect of this strict policy will be, but the region has yet to see any impact.
Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=MS) - news (http://www.forbes.com/markets/company_news.jhtml?ticker=MS)- people (http://www.forbes.com/peopletracker/results.jhtml?startRow=0&name=&ticker=MS)) analyst Celeste Mellet Brown said although the travel restrictions could have a negative impact on Macau gambling, she expects that the region's government will work with Central Chinese officials to minimize the hit.
"We will be interested to see how this plays out in the near-term, though we expect any drop in visitation to be offset by the increase in non-gaming amenities and hotel rooms with the opening of (Las Vegas Sands') Venetian in late August," she wrote in a note.

A couple recent stats from the Macau Statistics and Census Bureau
1. 1Q 2007 Population: 520k, increase of 29k compared with 2006. Also, non-resident workers 71,182 up 6,509 over last year
2. Visitor numbers in April up 19.1% y-o-y. Note Golden week in May expected to be much higher (30%).
3. Value of retail sales in 1Q 2007 up 25% yoy.
4. Real estate transactions up substantially in 1Q 2007 (see stream on Macau property).

Hopefully, this indicate there is some support for the new shops opening in Macau later this year. Also, number of non-resident workers seem to have gone up substantially.

Macau government sources said that it needs to observe the effects of the new policy of the authorities in Guangdong in authorising travel permits to its residents to visit Macau.

They told Jornal Va Kio that the full effects are 'difficult to assess' since no figures are available on how many individual travellers to Macau come from Guangdong province. Although these individual travellers could not come to Macau on their own, they can always join groups, they said.

They also pointed out that the effects could be seen over the summer holidays and the inauguration of new resorts in the latter half of the year.

They expressed optimism that the new policy will not affect the 'healthy development' of Macau's tourism sector in the long term.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/26/2975771.html)

It will make no effect on Macau daylife...

Measures to delay the issuance of Individual Travel Permits for mainland Chinese residents to Macau have reportedly been extended to other cities outside the province of Guangdong.

The Macao Daily News reported that the measures are now also effective in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chongqing. The issuance time has been delayed from a week to 10 to 14 days.

A domino effect is being emerged since the measures come into effect, the paper reported.

According to the border control, the number of visitors coming to Macau has been reduced by 8% during the past few days, in comparison with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the rate of occupancy for chartered flights has also plummeted, some of which from full occupancy to drops of 30%, although the exact cause of the fall is not yet established.

Restaurant bookings by travel groups are also reportedly dropped to almost 80%. Bookings of a restaurant dropped from 150 tables a day to 20 to 30 tables recently.

Casino operators told the newspaper that the number of visitors to casinos have been decreased in the past few days, but bets are not affected so far, possibly because of the introduction of long-distance betting by telephone.

Hotel occupancy remains the same, at 80% on weekdays and full during weekends.

Travel agencies in the mainland also told the newspaper that day trips and weekend tours, especially food tours at RMB 68 Yuan, remain popular among the residents. Coaches destined to Macau for the weekend remain full.

It is generally believed that the full effects of the new visa measures will emerge during the summer or after summer holidays, since a significant number of visitors are still using permits before the new measures came into effect.

Some 80% of the total Individual Travel Permits issued by the authorities in mainland China comes from Guangdong.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/30/2983692.html)

Reaction seems to be confusing....
8% yoy drop in border crossing seems big - lets hope it's just a knee-jerk one off.
Airlines plummeting, yet hotels seem to be the same. Betting also seems stable, yet tour group restaurant books 80% ??
Also thought these measures would take time, and that tour groups not involved (only individual travellers I thought ?).

Lets hope this stablises quickly, that there are ways to mitigate this (can they visit Macau via HK? Is there checking in Macau for this ?) or the mainland relaxes restrictions. I'm sure China also don't want this to deteriorate more. Macau maybe also needs to target more overseas tourists, and maybe should re-implement revised immigration scheme soon.

The Secretary for the Economy and Finance, Tam Pak Yuen (譚伯源), said that this year's Macau economy has entered into a 'key moment'.

With large retail and conference facilities inaugurated in the latter half of the year, Macau's economic growth will inject non-gambling elements, he said, and will be beneficial to the diversified, healthy and sustainable development of the economy.

He also said that the Government 'understands and supports' measures imposed by authorities in mainland China to make residents coming to visit Macau more difficult.

Tam reiterated that the Government has been working hard to diversify the source of visitors coming to Macau. With the diversification of the economy on the way, Macau will be able to provide more services in trade and commerce, as well as tourism.

Tam's comments came after official figures show that the first quarter of Macau's economy has increased year-on-year by 25.6% in real terms, and nominal gaming revenue has increased year-on-year by 43.5%.

However, the total amount of exports has dropped year-on-year by 8.5%, and a trade deficit of MOP2.01 billion was recorded for the month of April.

source (http://macau.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/31/2985020.html)

The 26.2% growth rate is apparently the highest since 1Q2004 (26.2%). I think that growth rate was more of a SARS rebound.

In the SCMP, "The market might've already gotten a bit numbed by these growth figures from Macau" Billy Ng, A HK-based analyst at JP Morgan said. "But make no mistake about it, this is still an outrageous number"
Macau will probably "sustain such a level of economic growth for the rest of this year " because of the opening of more large casinos, said Mr Ng.

I guess some think the bull run is still very much on - looks like people expect property & construction, new jobs from the Venetian etc, will outweigh the restrictions on visitors from the mainland.

I believe the bull will still run until all the casinos completed in a few years time, so from now until at least 2010-2012 we will see a very high GDP growth, at least 10-15% per annum for macau

Info from Statistics and Census Bureau indicates visitor arrivals via package tours up a healthy 24.3% yoy in June to 258,156. Visitors from mainland China, tho, fell 9% likely caused by stricter restrictions, but was compensated by big increases from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It looks like the China restrictions may improve the spend or 'quality' of visitors as desired by many ....

However, more importantly, hotel guest rose 17.5% with 407,793 guests in June. Also importantly, occupancy also rose 0.9% to 68.9% with average length of stay increasing by 0.1 night to 1.26 nights (a lot, and what is aimed for by the new IRs/hotels). Hotel guests in the first half of 2007 accounted for 42.7% of total tourists compared with 40.8% last year.
Again, showing what tourism officials wanted following the visa restrictions in terms of improving length of stay (spend).

Earlier announcement indicates total June visitors at 1,921,384, a yoy increase of 20.3% (with China up 4.1%). First half 2007 arrivals reached 12,640,004 up 21.3%.


Looks like Venetian will do Ok, especially with Olympics also coming in next year ...:)

Statistics and Census Bureau figures indicate 8396 (up 30.6% yoy) sales and purchase contracts with total value of MOP8bn (up 65.5% yoy) in the first half of this year.
Second quarter showed a slight decrease over 1Q with 3,849 S&P deals involving MOP3.91bn (up 19.4% and 50.4% compared with 2Q2006, but decrease of 18.4% and 4.6% over 1Q2007). Decrease probably not unsurprising given One Central was launched late last year with a huge wave of publicity in HK/Macau, spurring sales of in 1Q (notably Nova City).

MORE IMPORTANTLY, average transaction price was MOP14,140 psm in the 2Q, up 41.3% over last year AND 13.7% OVER FIRST QUARTER. This indicates momemtum is still strong and will carry over the next few quarters.
The average for industrial units was MOP4137 psm (up 7.9% yoy but -3% qoq) while for office units, the average was MOP21,639psm (up 22.6% yoy but -0.4% qoq).
These figures were a bit of surprise for me given some of the negative press in Macau during 2Q.

Also 3579 units transacted in 2Q were still under construction (within property tax exemption period) with a value of MOP8.76bn (or MOP2.45m each). I would guess most were residential.
In total, 2Q saw 9017 units with MOP12.89bn in value transacted, of which 68.6% or 6202 units were residential. For first half, there were 19,341 units worth MOP26.89bn transacted.

Of analytical interest is the high number of deals - the quarter saw an annualised turnover of 15% of the total housing stock !!!!
(presume a total of 175k residential households (i.e. approx 3 people in population of 525k) with the 6202 quarterly deals representing an annually rate of 25k residential deals.

Also interesting is the almost 3.6k deals done in quarter for projects under construction. This is an annual rate (or demand) of 14.4k units !!!! This is huge for the population and indicates that the new supply can easily be taken up if this rate is maintained. It also could imply potential immigration rate of 30-45k per year (i.e. 6-8% annual population growth can be maintained if these new units are used for new workers rather than for absentee owners).
In perspective, Singapore had an approx historical annual demand of 2.5k private (prime) homes a year before its recent boom (Savills), with a population 8-9times bigger than Macau.

So presuming the 3.6k deals were for residential and can be sustained, the level of demand for property is incredibly high (i.e. approx 50x 'normal' level for Singapore !)

Final bit of info...
According to the Financial Services Bureau, provisional gambling taxes for the first half of 2007 was up 49% over last year. Other figures indicate May figures were up 67.2% yoy during the May (including golden week), but dropped 23% in June following the golden week holidays in May.

Including earlier comments (Residential vales up 13.7% in 3 months in 2Q07, hotel guest up 17.5% with occupancy up), these indicate Macau's economy is still doing very, very well despite the slowdown in mainland numbers in the lead up to the Venetian opening.

Despite all the doom and gloom over the visa restrictions, the Macau Statistics and Census Service indicated that 8,396 real estate sale and purchase contracts with a total value of MOP8.0 billion were made in the first half of 2007, up by 30.6% and 65.5% respectively year-on-year. In the second quarter of 2007, a total of 3,849 real estate sale and purchase contracts, involving MOP3.91 billion were made, up by 19.4% and 50.4% respectively over the same quarter of 2006, but decreased by 18.4% and 4.6% respectively compared with the previous quarter.

In the first half of 2007, the total value of mortgage credits granted reached MOP60.34 billion, up by 40.6% year-on-year. In the second quarter of 2007, value of mortgage credits amounted to MOP53.42 billion, of which those relating to the purchase of real estate was MOP1.78 billion, which increased by 32.7% and 51.3% respectively over the same quarter of 2006. Compared with the first quarter of 2007, the total value of mortgage credits surged notably by 6.7 times, while those relating to purchase of real estate fell by 3.0%.

According to the information from Finance Services Bureau, in the first half of 2007, a total of 19,341 building units were transacted in the property market that amounted to MOP 26.89 billion. In the second quarter of 2007, a total of 9,017 building units totalled MOP12.89 billion were transacted, of which residential units shared 68.8% (6,202), involving MOP11.12 billion. Among all the units transacted in the second quarter, 3,579 were new building units that were still within the property tax exemption period and their value amounted to MOP8.76 billion.

The average transaction price of residential units was MOP14,140 per square meter of usable area in the second quarter of 2007, up by 41.3% and 13.7% over the same quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 respectively. The average price of the residential units in the Macao Peninsula was MOP12,918, which increased by 47.5% and 16.2% compared with the same quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 respectively. The average price of those in Taipa amounted to MOP17,790 per square meter.

Meanwhile, the average transaction price of industrial units was MOP4,137 per square meter of usable area, up by 7.9% over the same quarter of 2006, but decreased by 3.0% compared with the first quarter of 2007.

In addition, the average transaction price of office units amounted to MOP21,639 per square meter of usable area, up by 22.6% over the first quarter of 2006, but down slightly by 0.4% over the first quarter of 2007. The office units in Baixa de Macau recorded the highest average, at MOP25,349 per square meter whereas those in ZAPE had the lowest average, at MOP19,391.

Source (http://macaudailyblog.com/macau-property/macau-real-estate-continues-to-boom/) : Statistics and Census Service

Jones Lang LaSalle report indicates 2Q luxury prices were down (slightly) 1.3%, with low-end down 10-15%.
This is in contradiction with Macau govt stats (above).
Am I missing something ? Don't think a time delay factor is at fault (figure seem right). JLL did lead on the recent negatives in Macau, but it did have a positive outlook for rents/values.
Macau govt stats indicate that all values were rising (esp cheaper properties).

someone is bluffing....:?

Political reform is one of the major concerns expressed by the European Commission in its annual report on Macau, among other issues.

In the report submitted to the European Parliament, the EC said that it has taken note of the Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah’s (何厚鏵) announcement on changes to the electoral arrangements of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Assembly in 2009, and that it “looks forward to the launch of the democracy development plan”.

It also pointed out that the disturbances caused during the demonstration on 1 May 2006 “indicated a ground-swell of serious discontent”, although those taking part in the demonstration were limited to groups not benefiting from the booming economy and labour market.

The EC expressed hopes that the Macau Government could take measures to tackle these “pertinent” problems.

The report also noted of the problems Macau’s economy is facing, including sustainable development, rising environmental and social costs and externalities, infrastructure and manpower, and diversification.

It also pointed out in particular the row over intellectual property rights violation by antenna companies to broadcast TV signals of European and US programmes, and expressed hopes that the recent acquisition of Macau Cable TV by a local antenna company could “remedy” the abuses of broadcasting content, while the EC will continue to monitor the situation.

The EC also noted that the “traditionally well-established presence” of EU companies in Macau is “fading”, and hopes that a “level playing field” could be provided for all who seek for business opportunities in Macau.

It also expressed readiness to cooperate with Macau in introducing measures equivalent to the EC Directive on taxation of savings, which could mean more transparency of information to prevent tax evasion; as well as environmental protection measures, which could also mean extension of a tri-lateral partnership with mainland China.

source (http://www.blogmacau.info/blog/?p=1769)

someone is bluffing....:?

Not sure if bluffing... maybe a time delay effect (govt) AND over-emphasis on negative news (JLL, other agents, media)....

However, have to say, if prices have continued to zoom up I would've thought I'd get many more calls from agents (unless they're too busy selling new projects...)

The expansion of the gaming sector and ongoing construction projects nurtures further growth of Macau’s economy for the first half of 2007, while unemployment shows signs of increase.

Figures released by the Statistics and Census Bureau shows that the GNP value for the first half of this year has achieved a substantial growth of 25.8%, with the second quarter 31.9%.

Investments have increased 44.4%, while exports have fallen by 5.9%.

The final public expenditure has also increased by 10% during the second quarter of this year, higher than 1.1% as recorded for the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate between May and July was 3.1%, an increase of 0.1% in comparison with the last quarter (April to June).

This is mainly because more people are looking for work during the summer holidays.

The underemployment rate for the same period was 1.1%, an increase of 0.1%.

There are 9,500 unemployed labour population in Macau, about 1,600 of which are seeking for their first job. The proportion of this has increased by 5% in comparison with last quarter.

The population of workforce is estimated to stand at 310,700, 301,200 of which are employed.

source (http://www.blogmacau.info/blog/?p=1778)

Its hard to find a place anywhere in the world to have this kind of economy growth, 25.8%

But the export is down for the last quarter

The Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah (何厚鏵) said that the Government does not want to see Macau’s economy being overheated.

He told journalists before setting off to Xiamen for a forum and a trade and investment fair on the Economic Zone of the West of the Taiwan Strait, that with the economy in the second quarter grew by 31.9%, it is difficult to predict the economic growth for the entire 2007, but expressed optimism that there will be ’slight growth’.

He said that while the Government does not want to see Macau’s economy being overheated, it will closely watch the inflation that will affect the normal lives of the residents.

The Government will put forward assistance measures to help disadvantaged and low-income families in October, so that they can relieve the difficulties of these people.

He also appealed to those who intended to demonstrate on 1 October over the provisions of the new Road Traffic Law to do so in an orderly manner, and obey police arrangements.

He particularly pointed out that the Law has been drafted with long periods of consultation, and that the provisions have already taken as many aspects into account as possible.

He expressed hope that the demonstration will not seriously affect Macau’s traffic and the normal lives of the population.

source (http://www.blogmacau.info/blog/?p=1784)

July Package Tour/Hotel Figures (with June figures from earlier quote for comparison)
Visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 320,378, up 41.1% yoy, with mainland China increasing by 18.3% (recovery from June).

End of July saw increase in guest rooms in the hotel industry of 1067 rooms (+9%) to 12859 rooms. A total of 470,524 guests checked into hotels, a 17.9% yoy increase, with length of stay at 1.26 nights and occupancy at 77.7%, a substantial increase of 5.7% (+8.8% over June). For first 7 months of 2007, hotel guests accounted for 42.6% of the total tourists.

Visitor arrivals in July totolled 2,208,327, a 22.5% yoy increase. China visitors rose 24.2% while Hong Kong increased by 21.1%. For first 7 months total visitors reached 14,848,331, up 21.5%, with China up 19.3% to 8,086,130, Hongkong +23.4%, Taiwan up 1.4%. Same-day visitors made up 52.5% of the total.
Info from Statistics and Census Bureau indicates visitor arrivals via package tours up a healthy 24.3% yoy in June to 258,156. Visitors from mainland China, tho, fell 9% likely caused by stricter restrictions, but was compensated by big increases from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It looks like the China restrictions may improve the spend or 'quality' of visitors as desired by many ....

However, more importantly, hotel guest rose 17.5% with 407,793 guests in June. Also importantly, occupancy also rose 0.9% to 68.9% with average length of stay increasing by 0.1 night to 1.26 nights (a lot, and what is aimed for by the new IRs/hotels). Hotel guests in the first half of 2007 accounted for 42.7% of total tourists compared with 40.8% last year.
Again, showing what tourism officials wanted following the visa restrictions in terms of improving length of stay (spend).

Earlier announcement indicates total June visitors at 1,921,384, a yoy increase of 20.3% (with China up 4.1%). First half 2007 arrivals reached 12,640,004 up 21.3%.

A mainland Chinese academic who drafts a blue book on the competitiveness of Chinese cities every year, warned that Macau could be marginalised because of its incapabilities.

Wei Pengfei (倪鵬飛) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a seminar organised by the Centre of Macau Studies of the University of Macau that Macau lacks of a strong entrepreneurship, and that the society still exists protectionism.

Meanwhile, the performance of the Government in terms of its service, innovation and planning is poor in comparison with other Chinese cities.

He warned that the development of the gaming sector in other countries regions, in addition to regional integration, will pose risk to Macau being marginalised.

According to the Blue Book on the Competitiveness of Chinese Cities 2007, Macau’s overall competitiveness ranked the 10th in 2006, two ranks lower than in 2005.

Wei appreciated that Macau has multiculturalism and unique in the region, but it lacks strong entrepreneurship in comparison with other developed economies like Hong Kong and Singapore.

He pointed out that multiculturalism does not bring about innovation in Macau, and that its level of innovation does not reach to the level that it should.

The modern public administration concept of giving services priority is still not firmly established in Macau, owing to the ’stiff” and ‘backward’ management regime from Portugal. Low level of internationalisation of law is also a concern.

Wei also pointed out that protectionism in Macau is strong despite its status as a free port.

In terms of the economy, Macau tend to look at monopolies that bring short-term benefits, which eventually does not form mechanisms to allow free and fair competition.

He claimed that Macau has yet to exalt its potential institutional advantages in terms of quantity and quality.

He also criticised the Government’s service, innovation and planning capabilities. They ranked 28th, 34th and 54th within the mainland Chinese cities respectively.

In terms of quasi-public services, problems exist in the quality and management of associations, mostly begin uneven.

The uneven development of different sectors of the economy is reflected by the organisation of the gaming sector being better than other kinds of service sectors, such as IT, education, communication, finance, advertising, investment planning and management.

The management competitiveness of businesses in Macau is ranked 39th in the Chinese cities, and the ranking for the level of management applications, experience of management techniques, incentives and regulatory mechanisms and economic effectiveness of businesses are 40th, 38th, 39th and 40th respectively, the performances of which are generally poor.

Wei reminded that Macau will face competitions from world gaming cities, as well as those in South East Asia and neighbouring regions.

For the Pearl-River Delta region, the construction of the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge, the relocation of industries to the west of the Delta, and the integration of the west will result in faster development of the cities of Zhuhai and Zhongshan.

He said that the development of the two cities will overtake Macau after several years, and will become the points of growth of the region. Macau will then be pose a threat to being marginalised.

source (http://www.blogmacau.info/blog/?p=1819)

Package Tours and Hotel Occupancy, August 2007
Visitor arrivals in package tours reached 387,518, up 65.6% yoy, with China 282,834 (up 58.6% yoy), HK 29,954 (up 166.1%) and Taiwan 27,753 (up 78.1%).

Total hotel rooms increased by 3987 (+33.8% yoy) to 15,778. Note Venetian opened on 28 August with 3000 rooms.

In August 527,651 checked into hotels (up 25.7% yoy). Average hotel occupancy rose 9.5% to 83.7% with 4-star hotels at 91.7%. Average length of stay was 1.24 nights. For the first eight months of 2007, total guest were 3,693,280 up 24% yoy, and accounting for 42.7% of total tourists.

July Package Tour/Hotel Figures (with June figures from earlier quote for comparison)
Visitor arrivals in package tours totalled 320,378, up 41.1% yoy, with mainland China increasing by 18.3% (recovery from June).

End of July saw increase in guest rooms in the hotel industry of 1067 rooms (+9%) to 12859 rooms. A total of 470,524 guests checked into hotels, a 17.9% yoy increase, with length of stay at 1.26 nights and occupancy at 77.7%, a substantial increase of 5.7% (+8.8% over June). For first 7 months of 2007, hotel guests accounted for 42.6% of the total tourists.

Visitor arrivals in July totolled 2,208,327, a 22.5% yoy increase. China visitors rose 24.2% while Hong Kong increased by 21.1%. For first 7 months total visitors reached 14,848,331, up 21.5%, with China up 19.3% to 8,086,130, Hongkong +23.4%, Taiwan up 1.4%. Same-day visitors made up 52.5% of the total.

I think figures confirmed what everyone was saying about the Venetian opening. Macau was packed !!!
Venetian not only filled it's own rooms, it increased occupancy for the whole of Macau with occupancy up 9.5% to near full capacity. Visitor numbers/hotel guests rose substantially, but need to see Sep figures as Venetian only opened in the last week of August, but occupancy takes this into account.
I guess the 'disappointment' with the provisional gaming figures (ie up 55%) was coz the Venetian opening increased hotel guest/visitors more than the amount spent on the gaming tables. But surely the whole point of the new facilities was to increase visitors and that gaming spend per visitor was due to decline as more mass market visitors come (ie not VIP) and that they spend more on hotels (as shown above) and shopping ???

Package Tours and Hotel Occupancy, August 2007
Visitor arrivals in package tours reached 387,518, up 65.6% yoy, with China 282,834 (up 58.6% yoy), HK 29,954 (up 166.1%) and Taiwan 27,753 (up 78.1%).

Total hotel rooms increased by 3987 (+33.8% yoy) to 15,778. Note Venetian opened on 28 August with 3000 rooms.

In August 527,651 checked into hotels (up 25.7% yoy). Average hotel occupancy rose 9.5% to 83.7% with 4-star hotels at 91.7%. Average length of stay was 1.24 nights. For the first eight months of 2007, total guest were 3,693,280 up 24% yoy, and accounting for 42.7% of total tourists.

HONG KONG (AP) -- Macau's casino gambling revenue in the third quarter surged 46 percent to 20.34 billion Macau patacas ($2.55 billion) from 13.95 billion patacas a year ago, regulators said Thursday.

The third-quarter figure brings Macau's total casino gambling revenue for the nine months ending Sept. 30 to 58.32 billion patacas ($7.3 billion). That's 47 percent higher than the 39.70 billion patacas recorded for the same period last year and already beats gambling revenues for all of 2006.

The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau didn't elaborate on the figures it posted on its Web site, but analysts said earlier they expected casino operators' winnings from bets by high-rollers to help boost casino gambling revenue in the territory.

The former Portuguese colony is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.

High-rollers are gamblers who typically spend at least half a million patacas ($62,620) on casino betting on each trip to the territory, according to analysts and casino industry executives.

Macau casino winnings from bets by high-rollers between July and September totaled 13.67 billion patacas ($1.7 billion), making up 67 percent of the city's third-quarter casino gambling revenue.

Analysts also said earlier the opening of new casinos in Macau this year had attracted more gamblers to the territory, increasing casino gambling revenue there.

Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s $2.4 billion Venetian casino resort in the Cotai area, which opened in late August, is among the three major new casinos launched in the past nine months.

Macau ended the 40-year monopoly of casino gambling in the territory held by casino mogul Stanley Ho in early 2002. Since then the territory has granted six casino licenses to several casino operators.

Macau beat the Las Vegas Strip last year as the world's gambling center. The city raked in $6.95 billion in gambling revenue, while the Strip made $6.69 billion, regulators in the cities said.

The former Portuguese enclave reverted to Chinese rule in December 1999

MARKET TALK: LB Starts Galaxy Entertainment At Overweight
2007/10/26 11:04
1053 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Lehman Brothers starts Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group (0027.HK) at Overweight, pegs target at HK$11.50, says "we believe GEG is well positioned in the Macau gaming market, thanks to its local focus, competitive pricing strategy, well-located casinos and Permira's strategic input." Adds, Galaxy's flagship casino hotel Starworld's strong 1H07 result "have demonstrated the success of GEG's strategies." Stock off 4.3% at HK$7.61.

MARKET TALK: Melco Intl's Lottery Ops Not Priced In-CS
2007/10/26 10:40
1026 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Credit Suisse keeps Melco International (0200.HK) at Outperform, pegs target at HK$18.15, says company's "lottery business is not reflected in the stock price," after company created "a new platform for pan-Asia lottery business" by providing "one-stop shop solutions to lottery operators in Asia." Under deal, consortium comprising Melco, Firich, LottVision plans to inject various lottery-related operations into Wafer Systems (8198.HK) in return for up to 72.5% stake in company; businesses include supply of lottery terminals to Chinese government organizations running lotteries in mainland, minority stake in company involved in lottery business in Korea. Melco flat at HK$14.84, Wafer flat at HK$1.88.(JNL)

MARKET TALK: CS Keeps Melco Intl Outperform; Targets HK$18.15
2007/10/23 10:41
1030 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Credit Suisse keeps Melco International (0200.HK) at Outperform, but lowers target price to HK$18.15 from HK$18.90 after trimming company's 41.4%-owned U.S.-listed Macau casino operator Melco PBL's (MPEL) target to US$20.00 from US$21.20 on news of new share placement; MPEL accounts for about 90% of Melco's estimated NAV of HK$22.70/share. Adds, "we believe Melco's existing 27% discount to its market NAV is excessive, and such market NAV does not even reflect the true value of Melco's non-Macau gaming business." Stock +3.5% at HK$14.72.

MARKET TALK: Macq Ups Melco, Galaxy Targets; Bullish Outlook
2007/10/18 09:34
0821 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Macquarie says press speculating junket aggregator A-Max (0959.HK) has signed exclusive deal to bring its turnover to Crown Macau. "Although we remain skeptical that HK$80 billion in turnover can be brought to Crown Macau alone, we note that the deal is a positive for CM" as it'll add to profitability. Also stays positive on Melco (0200.HK) (Outperform), ups target to HK$18 vs HK$16.40 on successful opening of The Venetian on Cotai, upgrades to non-gaming assets. Note indication of strong VIP growth still a positive for Galaxy (0027.HK) (Outperform); after Permira deal, ups target to HK$9.80 from HK$9.70. Melco last at HK$15.86, Galaxy at HK$8.60

Already accounting for 30% of VIP business at Sands, Wynn and the
Venetian, junket operator, Dore Holdings, will continue to focus its expansion
into foreign-owned casinos. Enjoying the top tier of commission scale, Dore is
able to offer competitive terms to subagents and customers. Meanwhile, large
working capital requirement offers a significant entry barrier to smaller junket
operators. Currently trading on 6x FY09 PE, Dore is one of the cheapest
stocks in the Macau gaming space.

Attractive valuation. We forecast Dore booking HK$795m in Ebitda and
HK$731m net profit (diluted EPS HK$0.47) for FY09 (year-end March) based
on HK$16bn monthly rolling chip turnover. With Dore still in negotiation with
MGM, we have yet to factor potential contributions. We have, however,
assumed acquisition of the 40% profit pool of the Venetian operation will be
completed at the start of FY09. We value the company based on 10x
EV/Ebitda, or a 30% discount to Macau gaming license holders. Deducting
HK$530m net debt we arrive at HK$7,339m equity value for the company,
which translates to a fair price target of HK$4.54, and 10x FY09 PE. Note that
a 70% payout implies a 12% yield

Gavin Ho, CFA

Wynn's 3Q07 results. Wynn posted USD348m revenue for 3Q07, of which 94% came from gaming. While YoY comparison is not meaningful as the property only opened in September 2006, its revenue was down QoQ for the first time, though only at 1%. Market shares also dropped 1% from the last quarter to 16%, primarily due to a decline in mass-market table drop, whereas VIP business continued to be strong. Overall net wins per table dropped 4% QoQ and Ebitda margin was stable at 27%.

Other beneficiaries. Wynn's 3Q07 results pointed to heated competition and segmentation of Macau's gaming industry, and we expect this to continue with openings of more new casinos. Gaming operators with no near-term new launches may come under pressure. We believe other junket operators and property names could better benefit from the Macau growth story, such as Dore Holdings (628 HK - HK$2.73 - N-R), Shun Tak (242 HK - HK$12.36 - BUY) and Polytec (208 HK - HK$2.41 - N-R).

If revenue down only 1% then good result, given Venetian was open for over 5-6 weeks (i guess) during quarter (july Sep). However, I think there must be other (much bigger ??) losers going by the Jul-Sep overall gaming figures.
Apparently Wynn claimed during conference call that they didn't notice Venetian opening.... but he is a showman !!!

I thought this comment is interesting on the conference call :

" Steve Wynn, the chief executive officer, said on a call with investors that the company will build an ``expensive'' casino with at least 1,500 rooms on Macau's Cotai Strip. It will compete with Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Venetian Macao, which opened there with 3,000 rooms in August.

``We intend to build the most beautiful hotel on earth, period,'' Wynn said. ":banana:

MPEL has entered an agreement with AMA International, an intermediary licensed by the Macau
Government to introduce VIP players to Macau casinos. This agreement could eventually result in 10 junkets
bringing as much as US$10 bn of additional monthly VIP turnover to MPEL’s Crown Macau casino. We
estimate the AMA deal will initially double monthly VIP turnover for Crown Macau in 2008 to US$6 bn from
US$3 bn and should also raise MPEL’s share of Macau’s total gaming revenue to 14% from 7%.

We believe Melco shares offer visible catalysts and an attractive valuation with limited downside risk,
therefore we add the stock to our Conviction Buy List. We think the market is undervaluing: (1) the upside
potential for Crown Macau’s VIP gaming turnover following AMA International’s Nov 9 agreement with Melco
PBL Entertainment (MPEL, Neutral); and (2) Melco’s ability to create value in its non-MPEL assets and to
secure new NAV-accretive investments at holdco level. We see this mispricing as a buying opportunity in
Melco shares.

We believe valuation is compelling at a 32% discount to 2007E NAV, its steepest level since MPEL’s listing in
Dec 2006. We estimate an upside-case NAV of HK$23 for Melco based on the bull-case scenario for the
AMA deal highlighted in our Nov 12 note on MPEL. We also see limited downside risk since Melco is trading
at a 9% discount to our bear-case 2007E NAV of HK$12.60 which includes MPEL at its bear-case NAV of
US$10 and assumes nil value for Melco’s HK$0.7 bn shareholders’ loan to MPEL.

The Macau construction sector registered significant increase in all principal indicators in 2006 that was underpinned by the various large-scale construction projects in progress. In 2006, there were 1,600 establishments operating in licensed construction works, an increase of 181 establishments over 2005.

Number of persons engaged rose by 58.5% to 25,339. Gross output (total value of construction works performed and other receipts) and gross value added amounted to MOP40.36 billion and MOP7.34 billion respectively, up notably by 106.7% and 148.5% over 2005.

Total consumption of the establishments was MOP33.02 billion, of which 66.1% were payments to fee sub-contractors; 26.9% were consumption of materials, supplies and maintenance services.

In 2006, a total of 370 establishments operated as main contractors of licensed construction works, with the total census output accounting for MOP30.91 billion. Among them, 128 engaged in construction of buildings and civil engineering, with the value of census output amounting to MOP24.01 billion (77.7% of the total census output). Moreover, 71 engaged in specialized installation and their census output totalled MOP4.49 billion.

Amongst the 1,092 licensed construction projects, 531 were government projects and 561 were private construction, accounting for 12.2% (MOP4.90 billion) and 87.8% (MOP35.15 billion) of the total census output respectively.

As regard the location of construction, Macao Peninsula topped with 848 operations (77.7% of the total), of which 382 were in the parish of Sé (35.0% of the total).

Analyzed by the end-use of the completed constructions, 59 were hotels, gaming and tourism facilities, while 192 were residential purpose, which accounted for 77.5% and 6.3% of the total value of census output respectively.

(1 USD = 8 MOP)

Source: Statistics and Census Service

http://www.macaudailyblog.com/

30 Nov 2008
The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released information on the expenditure-based GDP for the third quarter of 2007. The rates of change mentioned in this press release refer to the year-on-year change in real terms, unless otherwise specified.

The gaming and tourism sector saw satisfactory performance in the third quarter of 2007, with gross gaming receipts (excluding gratuities) growing significantly by 45.0% year-on-year in nominal terms, total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose by 22.4% upon rising number of visitor arrivals and the per-capita spending. Investment soared by 38.3% on the back of several large-scale construction projects in progress and the rate of decrease in exports of goods was narrowed to 0.1%. Integrating all relevant data, GDP for the third quarter of 2007 recorded an increase of 30.9% in real terms. Besides, the rate of growth for the past two quarters was revised downward, from 25.8% to 25.7% for the first quarter and from 31.9% to 31.6% for the second quarter respectively, whereas the rate of increase for 2006 as a whole was revised upward, from 16.6% to 17.0%.

In terms of major GDP components, private consumption expenditure in the third quarter of 2007 increased by 9.1%, lower than the 9.9% growth in the previous quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 9.6% and that abroad also went up by 2.8%, with the expenditure in Mainland China amounted to MOP 561 million.

Government final consumption expenditure grew by 24.5%, up drastically from the 12.0% increase in the previous quarter, of which compensation of employees and net purchases of goods and services went up by 13.7% and 76.2% respectively.

Gross fixed capital formation, a gauge of investment, held up well to show a robust expansion of 38.3%, lower than the 41.8% growth in the previous quarter. Total investment in the private sector recorded an increase of 40.3% as a result of the 43.4% surge in investment in construction; besides, investment in equipment rose by 31.0%. Total government investment increased by 7.8%, in which investment in construction and equipment rose by 7.4% and 11.5% respectively. Based on the data of the private and public sectors, total investment in construction expanded by 40.7% in the third quarter of 2007, lower than the 47.0% growth in the previous quarter; total investment in equipment rose by 30.5%, higher than the 27.4% increase in the previous quarter.

With respect to visible trade, the total value of goods exports registered a slight decline of 0.1% in the third quarter, both in nominal and real terms, narrowing from the 6.0% and 5.7% decrease in the previous quarter. Merchandise exports to the United States and the European Union went down by 6.7% and 7.6% respectively in nominal terms, but exports to Hong Kong and Mainland China rose by 18.3% and 1.6% respectively. Imports of goods increased upon thriving demand, by 21.8% in nominal terms or 18.1% in real terms, higher than the 15.3% and 13.1% growth in the previous quarter. As regards invisible trade (exports of services), exports of gaming services soared by 44.9%; total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) increased by 22.4% upon rising number of visitor arrivals and the per-capita spending. Integrating the principal data on exports of services, the overall exports of invisible trade recorded an increase of 36.9%, same as the previous quarter. Moreover, imports of services grew by 29.6%, higher than the 25.4% growth in the previous quarter.
http://www.dsec.gov.mo/english/ncs/images/e_pib_2007_q3.gif

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for December 2007 rose by 0.98% over November to 118.49, the increment was mainly attributable to the increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages; Housing & fuels; and Recreation & culture.

Compared with November 2007, the indices of Recreation & culture, Communication and Transport recorded notable increases of 3.28%, 2.02% and 1.52% respectively, on account of higher charges for outbound package tours during Christmas holidays, reduction in the discount offered for IDD calls and rising prices of gasoline. In spite of lower prices of fresh vegetables, the index of Food & non-alcoholic beverages went up by 1.01%, as a result of dearer prices of fresh pork and beef, as well as increasing charges of meals bought away from home.

On the other hand, the index of Clothing & footwear recorded a 0.10% decrease due to the commencement of discount sale of men and women’s shoes.

The Composite CPI for December 2007 registered a year-on-year increase of 7.12%. For the fourth quarter of 2007, the Composite CPI rose by 1.62% and 6.68% over the previous quarter and the same quarter of 2006 respectively.

In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for December 2007 were 119.84 and 118.12, up by 0.84% and 0.93% respectively month-to-month.

The average Composite CPI for the whole year of 2007 was 114.46 and the annual inflation rate was 5.57%, with marked increases in the indices of Housing & fuels (+9.55%), Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+8.19%), as well as Miscellaneous goods & services (+3.69%). The annual average CPI-A and CPI-B for 2007 was 115.93 and 114.09 respectively, up by 5.92% and 5.49% over 2006.

The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.

Inflation figures now high in Macau, and increasing the negative interest rates situation to a level much higher than HK (good for property). Also follows 0.75% cut in interest rates in HK so mortgage rate is now 2.75-3%, which increases housing 'affordability).

HK inflation Dec 3.8% vs 7.12% Macau.
Mortgage rate HK - approx 3%, maybe dropping close to 2% later this year (presuming you can get same rate for Macau as for HK).

Also note gaming figures up almost 50% in 2007, with January set to be a record - implies GDP for last year likely +30% again (and possibly for 2008).

Macau economy now red-hot !!!

Other recent posts linked to economy.
Tourism figures/trends Dec 2007
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=17896268#post17896268
Gaming figures Dec 07/Jan 08
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=107939&page=17

Results of the 4th Quarter 2007 Indices and Daily Wages of Construction Workers
(01/02/2008)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service showed that in the fourth quarter of 2007, the average daily wage of the overall construction workers was MOP595, up by 6.7% over the previous quarter. The average wage of skilled & semi-skilled workers was MOP625, of which truck drivers had the highest average wage of MOP713, which was followed by scaffolders at MOP679, up by 2.3% and 7.3% respectively from the preceding quarter. The average of unskilled workers was MOP364, down slightly by 0.5%.

In nominal terms, the wage index for the fourth quarter of 2007 rose by 6.7% from the previous quarter to 224.9, up by 16.0% over the same quarter of 2006.
In real terms, the wage index for the fourth quarter of 2007 rose by 5.0% from the previous quarter, of which the wage index of skilled & semi-skilled workers increased by 6.1% and that of unskilled workers went down by 2.1%.


Results of the 4th Quarter 2007 Indices and Prices of Construction Materials
(29/01/2008)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service showed that in the fourth quarter of 2007, prices of most of the construction materials increased over the previous quarter, in which the average price of spiral and round reinforcing steel bars rose by 14.1% to MOP5,209 per tonne, while that of clamping plate (plywood) went up by 5.0%; nevertheless, the price of concrete continued to decline, down from around MOP300 per cubic metre at the beginning of 2007 to MOP278 at year end.

The construction material price index is an indicator that reflects the price change of the major construction materials. In the fourth quarter of 2007, price indices of most of the construction materials registered increases compared with the previous quarter. Among them, the index of steel has seen quarterly rise since the beginning of 2007, with an annual increment of 46.1% from a year earlier; the index of concrete has dropped constantly starting from the third quarter of 2006, while the index of timber kept on increasing in both 2006 and 2007.

^^
Guess taken together, cost of contruction going up 15-20% per year... indicating developers will be charging higher prices (if they haven't already !).
Likely effect of above greater on mass market greater as it is more sensitive to costs.

21/02/2008

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for January 2008 rose by 8.30% over January 2007 to 119.61, which was attributable to the significant increase of the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+14.42%), Housing & fuels (+14.26%) and Health (+12.53%). Among the subgroups, notable increase was observed in the prices of fresh beef (+54.70%), fresh pork (+43.46%), edible oil (+28.65%), chilled or frozen poultry (+26.76%), salt-water fish (+25.16%), vegetable (+18.87%) and meals bought away from home (+12.13%). For the subgroups of Housing & fuels; and Health, significant price increase was noted in the charges of services for the maintenance and repair of dwelling (+27.87%), rentals for housing (+16.48%), LP Gas (+16.16%) and medical consultation service (+23.29%). However, the price indices of Communication and Education registered year-on-year decrease of 8.55% and 5.84% respectively. For the 12 months ended January 2008, the average Composite CPI rose by 5.94% over the preceding period.

The Composite CPI rose by 0.95% compared with December 2007, with marked increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+2.99%), Housing & fuels (+1.09%) and Health (+8.55%).

On the other hand, the indices of Communication and Clothing & footwear dropped by 8.47% and 2.87% respectively due to a higher discount offered for IDD calls, as well as discount sale of clothes and footwear.

In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for January 2008 were 121.41 and 119.14, up by 8.79% and 8.17% respectively year-on-year and by 1.31% and 0.87% month-to-month.

The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.

^^^^
8.3% an exceptional rate, higher than China and much higher than HK.
Trend likely to continue, esp short term due to snow storms and effect on food prices. Also likely to drive wage pressure growth, hence housing also.

Macau and its govt have no means to control economy (ie no monetary policy as interest rates fixed to US rates). Cannot control currency (fixed). Good news is that RMB also appreciating (some say will go 10% this year). That means mainland tourist (unlike HK) won't be affected. Locals 'shoudn't' be affected also as low unemployment rates and wage growth should compensate.
Basically means Macau's economy and assets will 'reflate'. Also, Macau basically has no competitor in Asia, so will not be affected by being 'uncompetitive'. And currently office/land/property still much cheaper than HK, so inflation won't result in foreign companies screaming it is too expensive for a long-time yet.

(20/02/2008)

Information from the Statistics and Census Service showed that the value of retail sales for the fourth quarter of 2007 was estimated at MOP4.2 billion. Retail sales of watches, clocks & jewellery took the largest share of 17% of the total, which was followed by sales of motor vehicles (13%), goods in department stores (12%), goods in supermarkets (9%) and adults' clothing (9%).

The value of retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2007 registered an increase of 16% compared with the MOP3.6 billion in the preceding quarter. As against the MOP3.0 billion sales in the fourth quarter of 2006, the value of retail sales in this quarter grew remarkably by 40%.

Total value of retail sales for the whole year of 2007 reached MOP14.2 billion, up by 33% over 2006, with notable increase in the sales of watches, clocks & jewellery (+54%), adults' clothing (+39%), goods in department stores (+30%), and motor vehicles (+30%).

In the fourth quarter of 2007, about 44% of the interviewed retailers reported decrease in the sales volume from the third quarter, up by 10 percentage points over the findings in the previous quarter; 56% reported that the sales volume remained stable or increased. In terms of retail prices, about 57% and 27% reported the prices were stable and showed increase whereas 16% reported the prices decreased.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, about 68% said that the stock level was normal in this quarter, while 21% indicated that the stock level was low.

Regarding the business prospect for the first quarter of 2008, about 69% expected the sales volume to increase or remain stable compared with the fourth quarter of 2007, and 31% expected it to decrease. Meanwhile, about 86% expected the retail prices in the first quarter of 2008 to remain stable or increase, while 14% expected them to decrease.

^^^^
40% Remarkable growth, but from a low base. At least partly justfies LVS bet on Cotai strip is working out.
Looks like LVS good on at least 2/3 count (retail/gaming). Third (hotel occupancy) I think is quite good, but they have huge supply coming.

Macau's Economic growth is/will be based on:
1. Gaming (esp VIP) - Great Jan figures - Looking great
2. Hotels/Tourism - Massive hotel supply, tourism growth approx 20% - quite good, but can be better.
3. Shopping - 40% yoy - great growth from low base
4. MICE (conventions) - Looks good, but this has yet to really play out.
5. Construction and Property

Latest figures for end 2007 (Macau Statistical Bureau, 27 March)

Macau population estimated at 538k as at 31 Dec, up 25k over 2006 and an annual growth rate of 4.7%.
Births went up 11.8% yoy to 4537, the highest rise obvserved since the rebound in 2003.
Legal immigrants from China was 2221 in 2007, with 596 entering in 4Q, with 66.8% female, 68.2% from Guangdong province. 367 illegal immigrants were repatriated in 4Q, while annually the total surged by 45.2% over 2006 to 1575.
Non-resident workers in 2007 was 85,207, an increase of 20,534 from a year earlier; year end balance of persons authorized to reside in Macau rose by 5557 to 41955.
Total households estimated at 176k, up 3.2% from a year earlier.

A couple recent stats from the Macau Statistics and Census Bureau
1. 1Q 2007 Population: 520k, increase of 29k compared with 2006. Also, non-resident workers 71,182 up 6,509 over last year
.

Haven't got year earlier figures (i'm not a professional researcher !! This is just my weird idea of fun), but compared to 1Q, looks like population growth dipped slightly (tho still V.high).
However non-residents workers growth has accelerated substantially by 3x compared to 1Q (likely Venetian, plus other operators being the main growth factor).
Again, not sure how they count non-resident in population figure (ie included or excluded).

So the economy grew 27.3% in 2007, up from 17% in 2006. Per capita GDP in 2007 stood at MOP 292,165 (US$ 36,357). Final consumption expenditure as a share of GDP was 30,2%. http://www.dsec.gov.mo/index.asp?src=/english/html/e_page_monthly.html

So the economy grew 27.3% in 2007, up from 17% in 2006. Per capita GDP in 2007 stood at MOP 292,165 (US$ 36,357). Final consumption expenditure as a share of GDP was 30,2%. http://www.dsec.gov.mo/index.asp?src=/english/html/e_page_monthly.html

Adams3: Tks for reminding me on GDP !
Remember something in SCMP on this.. Macau now 20th richest economy (GDP per capita) in the world, and richest GDP/head in Asia (ahead of even HK, Japan). HK was 28th in world, with GDP something like just under USD30k.

Going back to figures, growth was driven mainly by 45.6% in gaming services. So other sectors effectively pulled back overall GDP (tho still respectible). Of some concern is visitor spend up 13.9% despite rise in visitor arrivals of 22.7%. This shows vistors still using Macau mainly for gaming (and relatively less on shopping, hotels, restaurants). This may be a disappointing trend for the shopping/hotel elements of Macau...

Lead story today in SCMP Business section...

From memory (sorry, havent got article)
- Macau overtakes Las Vegas strip and Atlantic City combined for first 2 months of this year (March figures not yet released for US). Figures were something like less than USD2bn for the 2 US locations, and USD2.4bn for Macau.
- Macau total first quarter 2008 up 62%, led by VIP revenue, to MOP29.8bn (approx USD3.75bn), with VIP Baccarat taking MOP20.9bn (up approx 70%). Mass market up approx 30+%. Figures from Macau Gaming Bureau.


IMO, this indicates yet another 30+%, maybe 40% growth in GDP this quarter, yoy.
On the negative side, latest package tour figures for Feb (which includes Chinese new year) only grew 3.8% to 392,2777. On the plus side, more tourist came from outside greater China - esp Japan up 58.4% to 16,123 and OVERTAKING TAIWAN. Also, hotel guest totalled 484,247 in Feb, up 13.1% yoy.

So... another phenomenal quarter for Macau in gaming figures... however, so much is led by VIP, with overall hotel guest up a lacklustre amount. This is less rosy for the mass market side of Macau tourism (ie shopping, hotels). A 13% growth in hotel visitors is great for most places, but this growth seems disappointing in light of likely growth of hotel rooms/visitors. It could be the Feb figures were hit by the huge snowstorm hitting China in early Feb.... and it should be noted most China/HK tourists go as individuals.

What are the GDP growth forecast for this year and next in Macau?

What are the GDP growth forecast for this year and next in Macau?

Cant quote who, but remember figure was for consolidation this year as no major resorts opening this year. I think it was in the mid-high teens (by analysts). Dont know about next.

Last year, gaming grew about 45%, so GDP near 30%. So Macau GDP relies hugely on gaming . Hence the above post about 1Q indicates gaming growth even strongwe... how strong in 2 years time, nobody knows as 1 year hard enough !! Macau's economy unique in that a few hundred/thousand VIPs make the difference !

There was a quote by an analyst in SCMP - saying basically US recession has no impact at all on Macau.

There was a quote by an analyst in SCMP - saying basically US recession has no impact at all on Macau.

China's GDP is still growing at more than 10%, and Macau's fortune is linked more to China than US.

So Macau maintains great growth figures in March...(and an improvement on Feb figures - which had weak China figures, possibly due to snowstorm in Jan/Feb).
In addition to 60% growth from SE Asia, good growth from Korea (+58%) and Oceania (63%), while Taiwan dropped 4.7%.



Results of the Visitor Arrivals for March 2008
(21/04/2008)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals reached 2,713,457 in March 2008, a year-on-year increase of 25.6%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,566,179), Hong Kong (743,250) and Southeast Asia (153,921) grew by 32.4%, 11.5% and 60.4% respectively. Same-day visitors accounted for 53.2% of the total arrivals, at 1,444,785.

The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China and Hong Kong, which accounted for 57.7% and 27.4% of the total respectively. Among the Mainland visitors, 43.3% (678,822) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.

In the first quarter of 2008, visitor arrivals totalled 7,506,309, up by 17.9% over the same quarter of 2007. Visitors from Mainland China rose by 22.6% to 4,385,684; concurrently, those from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia increased by 3.3% and 63.3% respectively. Furthermore, same-day visitors made up 52.6% of the total arrivals, at 3,951,571.

Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea went up by 10.9% over the first quarter of 2007 to 2,386,943. Among them, 2,164,981 arrived at the Outer Harbour (+8.1%), with 57.6% from Hong Kong and 23.5% from Mainland China.

Visitor arrivals by land increased by 21.4% to 4,704,257. Visitors arriving through the Border Gate rose by 14.8% to 4,448,120 and the majority were visitors from Mainland China (79.1%) and Hong Kong (14.6%).

In addition, visitor arrivals by air stood at 415,109, up by 21.3% over the first quarter of 2007. Visitors arriving at the Macao International Airport grew by 20.5% to 408,094 and those from Taiwan, China (35.0%), Southeast Asia (28.8%) and Mainland China (22.1%) were the major users

Results of the Consumer Price Index for March 2008
(21/04/2008)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for March 2008 rose by 9.49% year-on-year to 122.53, with considerable increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+16.33%), Housing & fuels (+14.00%) and Health (+13.54%). Among the subgroups of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of fresh beef (+74.25%), canned meat (+54.46%), fresh pork (+54.09%), edible oil (+30.15%), chilled or frozen poultry (+27.07%), rice (+24.98%), noodles (+23.75%) and charges for meals bought away from home (+14.37%). For the subgroups of Housing & fuels and Health, significant increase was noted in prices of LP Gas (+32.81%), charges for maintenance and repair services of dwelling (+24.70%), rentals for housing (+14.70%) and charges for medical consultation service (+24.93%).

However, the price indices of Communication and Education registered year-on-year decrease of 6.86% and 5.84% respectively.

The CPI-A and CPI-B for March 2008 were 124.70 and 122.00, up by 9.99% and 9.38% respectively year-on-year. For the 12 months ended March 2008, the average Composite CPI rose by 6.71% over the preceding period.

The Composite CPI for March 2008 dropped slightly by 0.08% month-to-month, with lower charges for outbound package tours and hairdressing services, as well as lower prices of fresh flower and fresh food after the Lunar New Year, pushing down the price indices of Recreation & culture (-2.69%), Miscellaneous goods and services (-1.34%) and Food & non-alcoholic beverages (-0.34%). On the other hand, the indices of Communication and Clothing & footwear rose by 1.89% and 1.69% respectively due to lower discount offered for IDD calls, as well as new arrivals of men and women's clothings.

In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for March 2008 decreased by 0.14% and 0.05% respectively month-to-month.

The Composite CPI for the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.09% to 121.59 over the same quarter of 2007, with marked increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+16.08%), Housing & fuels (+14.32%) and Health (+13.05%).

The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.

^^
Probably why CE Ho today announced each Macau citizen to get MOP5k (with non-residents MOP3k).

^^ How would you spend the 5000 bucks then?

^^ How would you spend the 5000 bucks then?

I don't gamble, but I'll prob spend it all on drinks !! :cheers:

Manpower Assessment and Needs for Macao as a 24-hour Tourism Destination
30 April 2008

Commissioned by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao S.A.R. and conducted by the Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT), a study on manpower assessment and needs for Macao as a 24-hour tourism destination has been completed. In this survey, William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas was commissioned by IFT to participate in the information collection and analysis work.


Since this survey was about the relation between manpower and social structure, the methodology consisted mainly of the collection of secondary and official data from Macao and Las Vegas and the analysis of such data. The study approach was to compare a set of important economic and social indicators between Macao and Las Vegas which is already a 24-hour tourism destination, in order to estimate the manpower requirements of Macao if the destination is to operate round-the-clock like Las Vegas. These indicators included but were not limited to residential population size, labour distribution by industries (please refer to the table for details), and visitor arrivals.


Be it Macao or Las Vegas, a round-the-clock operation does not only require the participation of hotel and gambling sectors but also other sectors such as wholesale and retail, transportation and communication, education and health care, and public administration and social security. Therefore, this survey focused on these 5 major sectors and compared the current labour distribution and visitor arrivals between Macao and Las Vegas.


The analysis was conducted based on a comparison of the ratios of employees to total visitors in the 5 major sectors between Macao and Las Vegas and the identification of differences in the ratios. Using this information along with Macao’s visitor arrival and workforce population in 2006, the study estimated that the required additional workforce for Macao if it is to develop to a 24-hour city like Las Vegas (but not necessarily adopting the same style).


The results showed that, based on the ratio differences in the 5 sectors and the working population figure of Macao in 2006, Macao would need another 156,000 new workers to sustain the kind of round-the-clock operation as found in Las Vegas. This would be an extra 85% of the workforce in 2006. Among the 5 sectors, the hotel and gambling sector would have the highest demand of new blood, with an estimation of around 66,000, followed by wholesale and retail (about 33,000) and public administration and social security (about 30,500). In comparison, education and health care, and transportation and communication sectors (a combined total of 27,000) would demand relatively less. Nonetheless, these sectors are essential anywhere in the world and hence the priority and importance in getting extra manpower for these sectors is no less than for others. According to the estimation of economists and analysts, every direct vacancy in a major industry will have a multiplying effect of producing 1.5 indirect vacancies.


As a conclusion, since Macao already received more than 27 million visitors in 2007 and is facing constraints in local population and labour supply, it is important that related departments consider and adopt effective population and foreign labour policy to prepare Macao in its transformation into a 24-hour tourism destination.


For any comments and queries about this survey, please kindly contact the Institute For Tourism Studies.

^^^^^^
Jones Lang LaSalle earlier estimated 93k workers by 2010...And that there is a slight lack of property to house this.. This figure is massively more, so would create a huge imbalance of housing....

^^ What is the time frame? 156k by 2010? I think it would be wise to also look in south-east asia for workers (PH,VN), not only on the mainland. If Macau continues like this, then it would reach 1m people before 2020. Housing would be a problem.

Results of the 1st Quarter 2008 Visitor Expenditure Survey
(16/05/2008)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that per-capita spending of visitors for the first quarter of 2008 increased by 5% year-on-year to MOP 1,730. Per-capita spending of Mainland visitors took the lead, at MOP 3,430 and that of Hong Kong visitors was MOP 1,127. Compared with the first quarter of 2007, per-capita spending of tourists went up by 6% to MOP 2,365, but per-capita spending of same-day visitors was MOP 576, a decrease of 9%.

Per-capita non-shopping spending (excluding gaming expenses) of visitors rose by 11% year-on-year to MOP 994, of which the expenses on accommodation and food & beverage accounted for 45% and 37% respectively. However, per-capita shopping spending decreased by 3% to MOP 737, with the expenses on local food products and clothing sharing 29% and 23% respectively.

Per-diem spending of visitors was MOP 1,484, a decrease of 2% over the first quarter of 2007. Mainland visitors had the highest per-diem spending, at MOP 2,423.

In the first quarter of 2008, the average length of stay of visitors extended by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days. The average for tourists increased by 0.1 day to 1.7 days, while that for the same-day visitors was same as the first quarter of 2007, at 0.2 day.

^^^^
Figures not very good. Given inflation is higher (and RMB strong), indicates each visitor spending less (on volume terms). Restaurants and hotels seem to do OK, and probably did very well given overall tourism figures grew over 20%.

However, for pure shopping, looks like very bad figures, with per capita spending falling. As mentioned, overall market tho should be up due to big increase in number of tourist...but means it is underperforming rise in visitors.

It looks like Macau story still gaming in 1Q (which were fabulous, up 60+%). And that shopping is still not what tourist really do when they visit Macau (even with Venetian opening). Am personally surprised as I thought mainlanders loved shopping and this part was a no-brainer... maybe shopping takes more time to develop (I have no idea about how retail/malls work)...

Looks like LVS and others need to figure how to boost non-gaming revenues if they want to open that many shops, but this is still just one quarter... Maybe as suspected, visitors are still gauping at Venetian Shoppes, and maybe need to promote this more (maybe many brands US mid-market and unknown in Asia, and not luxury enough ??)

Macau recorded 2,488,697 visitors, 11.8% yoy growth but 7.8% mom drop.

Hong Kong visitors down by 18.5% yoy due to Easter Holiday, 4 day long weekend move from April to March 08.

Mainland China surged 29.8%, SE Asia also surged 41.1%.

Analysts expect May to be weak due to mourning period from Earthquake repercussions.

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Macau's total retail sale in the first quarter this year soared by 46 percent to 4.55 billion patacas over the same period of 2007, in which watches, clocks and jewellery were the most popular retail products.
According to information released by the Statistics and Census Bureau yesterday, value of retail sale for the first quarter of 2007 was registered at 3.11 billion patacas, with marked increases in the sales of watches, clocks and jewellery; adults' clothing; goods in department stores; goods in supermarkets and motor vehicles.
Retail sale between January and March this year was also up by eight percent when comparing with the 4.2 billion patacas in the preceding quarter in 2007.
Of the 4.55 billion patacas retail sale value, watches, clocks and jewellery made up the largest share of 19 percent, followed by sales of goods in department stores (11 percent); motor vehicles (10 percent); goods in supermarkets (10 percent); adults' clothing (nine percent) and fuels for household use (five percent).
The retail survey also indicated that 35 percent of the interviewed retailers reported a decrease in sale volume during the first quarter this year, whilst the others reported stable or an increase.
In terms of retail prices, 41 percent of the retailers said it remained stable, 39 percent reported an increase and 20 percent reported a decrease.
Compared with the first quarter of 2007, about 72 percent of the retailers said stock level was "normal", while 11 percent said it was "low".
In addition, about 72 percent of the retailers expected sale volume to increase or remain stable in the second quarter of 2008.
Meanwhile 90 percent expected retail prices to be stable or increase

^^
Something odd is happening. One story says tourist spending flat/down in shopping (retail esp). The other now says overall retail UP 46%.

This is now GOOD news for malls, like Venetian..
I can only guess that if tourist spending flattish, it still grew in line with tourism figures (over 20%). But retail grew more at double this. So in theory rest was made up by Macau residents. This shows that despite the gloom about inflation hitting people, locals seem to be very happy, and spending their money...
However... for 500k locals probably contributing as much (I think) as the 27m visitors ??? Maybe figures are wrong ? (visitors did spend a LOT). I'm guessing the visitor survey is just that... based on interviews on street. While second survey is based on retailers (more accurate).
Maybe big VIP spenders don't have time to answer the first survey. It would be like a gambling suvery missing the VIP market - they'll miss out 70% of market.

Thursday, 22 May 2008
Inflation rose by almost nine percent last month to 122.39 compared to the same period last year, with a considerable surge on the price indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
According to figures released yesterday by the Statistic and Census Service, the composite for the consumer price index (CPI) rose by a staggering 8.72 percent in April this year over that of last year.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 18.60 percent, health by 13.90 percent, transport by 10.90 percent, the figures showed.
Among the subgroups of food an non-alcoholic beverages, there was a notable increase in the prices of canned meat, which was up by 80.07 percent, fresh beef, up by 68.97 percent, rice by 62.80 percent, edible oil by 62.48 percent, fresh pork by 59.49 percent, chilled or frozen pork by 47.13 percent.
Fresh water fish was also up by 27.95 percent, chilled or frozen poultry rose by 26.22 percent, while noodles, vegetables and charges for meals brought way from home went up by 24.89 percent, 21.92 percent and 14.55 percent, respectively.
Medical consultation services and unleaded fuel also jumped last month by 25.68 percent and 25.96 percent, respectively.
Although the prices of LP Gas, which rose by 32.79 percent, and the charges for maintenance and repair services of dwelling, which also rose by 28.43 percent, rose significantly over last month, the Government payout of the electricity subsidy, of 150 per month, to all households tapered off the increment of the index of housing and fuels to 7.47 percent.
However, the price indices of communication and education registered a year-on-year decrease of 6.91 percent and 5.84 percent, respectively.
The CPI-A and CPI-B for last month were 124.16 and 121.82, up by 8.96 percent and 8.54 percent, respectively, over the previous year.
For the 12 months ended April 2008, the average Composite CPI rose by 7.05 percent over the preceding period.
The Composite CPI for last month dropped by 0.12 percent month-to-month, on account of the electricity subsidy that pushed the index of housing and fuels down by 4.67 percent.
In addition, the indices of recreation and culture and communication also went down by 0.12 percent and 0.05 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, indices of clothing and footwear, food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport rose by 6.04 percent, 2.34 percent and 1.49 percent respectively, ue to the new arrivals of Summer clothing, as well as dearer prices of canned meat, rice, edible oil and gasoline, a statement released with the figures said.
The CPI-A and CPI-B for last month decreased by 0.43 percent and 0.15 percent, respectively month-to-month.
The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. CPI-A relates to about 49 percent of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of 3,000 to 9,999 patacas, while CPI-B relates to about 31 percent of households, which spend between 10,000 and 19,999 patacas on average a month.

Macau Daily Times.

But looks like a light dip from March (below)

Results of the Consumer Price Index for March 2008
(21/04/2008)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for March 2008 rose by 9.49% year-on-year to 122.53, with considerable increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+16.33%), Housing & fuels (+14.00%) and Health (+13.54%). Among the subgroups of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of fresh beef (+74.25%), canned meat (+54.46%), fresh pork (+54.09%), edible oil (+30.15%), chilled or frozen poultry (+27.07%), rice (+24.98%), noodles (+23.75%) and charges for meals bought away from home (+14.37%). For the subgroups of Housing & fuels and Health, significant increase was noted in prices of LP Gas (+32.81%), charges for maintenance and repair services of dwelling (+24.70%), rentals for housing (+14.70%) and charges for medical consultation service (+24.93%).

However, the price indices of Communication and Education registered year-on-year decrease of 6.86% and 5.84% respectively.

The CPI-A and CPI-B for March 2008 were 124.70 and 122.00, up by 9.99% and 9.38% respectively year-on-year. For the 12 months ended March 2008, the average Composite CPI rose by 6.71% over the preceding period.

The Composite CPI for March 2008 dropped slightly by 0.08% month-to-month, with lower charges for outbound package tours and hairdressing services, as well as lower prices of fresh flower and fresh food after the Lunar New Year, pushing down the price indices of Recreation & culture (-2.69%), Miscellaneous goods and services (-1.34%) and Food & non-alcoholic beverages (-0.34%). On the other hand, the indices of Communication and Clothing & footwear rose by 1.89% and 1.69% respectively due to lower discount offered for IDD calls, as well as new arrivals of men and women's clothings.

In addition, the CPI-A and CPI-B for March 2008 decreased by 0.14% and 0.05% respectively month-to-month.

The Composite CPI for the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.09% to 121.59 over the same quarter of 2007, with marked increase in the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages (+16.08%), Housing & fuels (+14.32%) and Health (+13.05%).

The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 3,000 to MOP 9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP 10,000 to MOP 19,999.

Macau Statistics Bureau 30/05/2008

The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released the summary of the expenditure-based GDP for the first quarter of 2008. The rates of change mentioned in the text refer to the year-on-year change in real terms, unless otherwise specified.

In the first quarter of 2008, performance of the gaming sector continued to stay vibrant, with gross gaming revenue (excluding gratuities) soaring substantially by 61.8% in nominal terms compared with the same quarter of 2007, while total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose slightly by 4.3%; gross fixed capital formation dropped by 17.6% upon successive completion of large-scale construction projects, and exports of goods fell by 11.2%. Taking all relevant data together, GDP for the first quarter of 2008 expanded by 31.6% in real terms, higher than the 22.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In terms of major GDP components, private consumption expenditure in the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.6%, lower than the 9.7% growth in the previous quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 8.6%, while that abroad fell slightly by 1.7%, with the expenditure in Mainland China amounting to MOP 606 million.

Government final consumption expenditure increased by 16.1%, lower than the 19.5% growth in the previous quarter, with compensation of employees going up by 4.7% and net purchases of goods and services rising notably by 165.4%.

Gross fixed capital formation, a gauge of investment, fell by 17.6%, decreasing further from the 11.9% drop in the previous quarter. In the private sector, total investment declined by 17.7%, mainly attributable to a 20.5% decrease in construction investment and a 9.3% drop in equipment investment. Total government investment advanced by 22.4%, in which construction investment grew by 58.4%, while that in equipment fell by 21.0%. Integrating data on both sectors, overall investment in construction decreased by 20.3% in the first quarter of 2008, slowing further from the 18.3% drop in the previous quarter; overall investment in equipment fell by 9.4%, which was the first quarterly decrease since the third quarter of 2003.

In terms of visible trade, total value of exports of goods declined by 7.1% in nominal terms and 11.2% in real terms, manifesting that the increase in the fourth quarter of 2007 was just a seasonal rebound. Analyzed by major destinations, merchandise exports to the United States, the European Union and Mainland China went down by 3.6%, 32.3% and 33.1% respectively in nominal terms. Total value of imports of goods increased by 11.0% in nominal terms, but registered zero growth in real terms due to rising prices of imports, lower than the corresponding growth of 17.6% in nominal terms and 10.6% in real terms in the previous quarter. As regards invisible trade (exports of services), exports of gaming services surged remarkably by 62.5%; total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose slightly by 4.3% as the 15.1% rise in the Tourist Price Index had partly offset the increases in the number of visitor arrivals and the respective per-capita spending. Integrating the principal data on the exports of services, overall exports of services recorded an increase of 46.3%, higher than the 34.5% growth in the previous quarter; moreover, imports of services grew by 40.4%, higher than 31.3% growth in the previous quarter.

Macau welcomed 390,683 visitors on the first four days (September 29 to October 2) of the China National Day golden week, a 13.2 per cent increase compared to the same period of last year.

Among the total of visitors, 65 per cent, or 254,139 people, came from Mainland China, 6.3 per cent more than the same period in 2007, according to figures of the Public Security Police Force referring to the period from September 29 to October 2.

On the other hand, the number of international visitors saw a strong increase of 63.5 per cent on the first four days of the golden week, amounting to a 9.6 per cent share of the total, corresponding to 37,671 visitors.

^^^^
Still some great figure here (esp given gloom and doom).
Everyone saying tourist figures would be down..

For eg, HK tourism expected down 20-30% for national week (see below).
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=72416&sid=20823454&con_type=1&d_str=20081002&sear_year=2008

For tourist figure to grow is an incredible result as it came despite fall in HK tourism, credit crisis, etc, visa curbs (mainlanders can now once in only once every 3 mths !). Seems like restiction may have hurt HK more than Macau !!!!

Above also may counter an incredibly negative forecast GDP growth of 10% this year made by Macau's secretary for economy and finance, Francis Tam recently.
As SCMP pointed out, "Mr Tam's prediction implies that things will not only come to a screeching halt, but fall off a cliff in the second half." As given 1h growth 26.07%, then second half would have to amount to -4.27%.
SCMP pointed out that even during SARS, Macau's real GDP contracted only 3.1% in 2Q2003, and that Macau didn't enter a recession (ie 2 quarters of decline).
SCMP pointed out casino revenues grew 54.6% in 1H. Up 42% in July and 44% in August, so for 10% growth Mr Tam's forecast implies, casino revenues for Sept to December would have to decline by a staggering 36% compared with last year.

For eg, HK tourism expected down 20-30% for national week (see below). .

That is a BIG surprise, that HKg tourism expects 20-30% down but yet we are still seeing positive growth rate in Macau despite the curb. Maybe the only POSITIVE news I had in the last 1 month!!!

That is a BIG surprise, that HKg tourism expects 20-30% down but yet we are still seeing positive growth rate in Macau despite the curb. Maybe the only POSITIVE news I had in the last 1 month!!!

Agree... There has been so much doom and gloom.
However, I suspect that HK figures may not be as bad as predicted, and people/media have been trying to paint a very bleak picture (for both HK/Macau). Others have said sales (I think jewelry) down in HK by 3% (so still negative, but not in double digits). Likewise, Mr Tam's forecast maybe to shock locals, so when figure better he can claim credit.

Macau growth more of a surprise as National golden week figures are really recent, so should reflect slowdown from visa restrictions (HK does not have such severe restrictions). However, I think mainland govt ultimately targetting gaming figures (esp VIPs/govt/officials), and gaming figures not yet released. But fact that mainland tourists still up is a huge silver lining and may indicate things may not be as bad as predicted. Esp as yoy comparison is based on high base figure (last year Venetian already opened over 1 month). I think it still indicates Macau very popular with mainlanders who seem to be voting with their feet (over HK). It is also very popular with regional tourists and Macau is successful in diversifying.

Golden Week Loses Its Shine

Nickkita Lau
Front page lead story, HK Standard
Monday, October 06, 2008

Hong Kong's hoteliers and retailers are counting the cost after the so-called Golden Week holiday proved to be anything but golden for them.
Although more than two million visitors entered Hong Kong during the weeklong National Day holiday, spending sprees were few and far between, with retailers complaining of a 30 percent drop in luxury goods sales.

The slump led industry figures to call on the government to rethink its tourism strategy.

Luxury goods such as jewelry and Chinese health products have lost their sparkle for the formerly free-spending mainland shoppers, according to Hongkong and Kowloon General Merchandise Merchants' Association president Lam Chun-wing.

"We no longer see mainland shoppers spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in one store and paying in cash. They are definitely more money-wise now. Most of them spend only a couple of thousand dollars for each purchase," Lam said.

Compared with a year ago, sales had dropped 30 percent, he added. To make matters worse, shops at tourist attractions had also seen a drop in sales since September 1 when Macau tightened travel restrictions on mainlanders, he said.

The hotel industry too was feeling the pinch. Three- and four-star hotels reported occupancy rates of 80 to 90 percent, falling off to 70 percent in the latter part of the week, though an industry insider fears the worst is still to come. Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners executive director Michael Li Hon-shing said the October tra
de shows will be the best indicator of the impact of the financial crisis.

Even the popular Ocean Park saw a drop in mainland tourists. Chairman Allan Zeman said the Golden Week attendance was satisfactory, but this was helped by locals going to Halloween events at the park. Attendance by mainland visitors has dropped since September 1, though the China market is still valuable and far more stable compared with the US or European markets.

Promotions in the West should be eased, Zeman said, and the government should concentrate on Chinese visitors. He warned if nothing is done to help the industry, tourism will take a hit for the next two years.

Li also urged the government to reprioritize the type of visitors it wants to bring to Hong Kong, saying Russia, India and the Middle East have huge potential. "I'm not saying we should ignore individual travelers from the mainland, but those in Guangdong will come to Hong Kong regardless of any promotion. We should explore markets that can bring us high-spending visitors."

Macau growth more of a surprise as National golden week figures are really recent, so should reflect slowdown from visa restrictions (HK does not have such severe restrictions). However, I think mainland govt ultimately targetting gaming figures (esp VIPs/govt/officials), and gaming figures not yet released.

Gaming figures in Macau just released, it is down 3.4%, according to South China Morning Post:

By Kyunghee Park

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Macau's casino revenue fell for the first time in almost three years last month as China limited mainland visitors to the city, the South China Morning Post said, citing unofficial data given by Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Monthly revenue in September dropped 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.9 billion patacas ($862 million) and was 28 percent lower than the previous month, the report said.

Travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on mainland tourists have progressively reduced the number of visitors to Macau, the report said. From Sept. 1, Chinese traveling to Hong Kong are required to apply for a separate permit to enter Macau, it said.

Now gaming down, hope China no longer squeezing, and starts relaxing....
LVS having difficulties raising funds, so wonder if they will delay/cancel projects more (plus others). This would be the ultimate indicator for Macau's future direction (and property mkts).
However, hopefully no (see next article)

Gaming figures in Macau just released, it is down 3.4%, according to South China Morning Post:

By Kyunghee Park

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Macau's casino revenue fell for the first time in almost three years last month as China limited mainland visitors to the city, the South China Morning Post said, citing unofficial data given by Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Monthly revenue in September dropped 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.9 billion patacas ($862 million) and was 28 percent lower than the previous month, the report said.

Travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on mainland tourists have progressively reduced the number of visitors to Macau, the report said. From Sept. 1, Chinese traveling to Hong Kong are required to apply for a separate permit to enter Macau, it said.

Financial crisis not affecting foreign investment in Macau
Macau Daily Times
Sunday, 05 October 2008
None of the foreign investors whose projects in Macau are being monitored by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) have suspended their plans over the international financial crisis despite a general lack of confidence in world markets and restricted access to trustees, assured Executive Director of IPIM, Echo Chan.
“All the projects that have been pledged or initiated are still on,” she said. However, Ms Chan didn't deny future casualties “because things might change”. She also said "we're living in times of global crisis and all companies should verify their own situation and balance future impacts”.
Ms Chan spoke during a symposium about interest loans for Small to Medium Enterprises organised by IPIM and the Macau Banking Association. The initiative aimed to explain to employers the available ways to access loans

Property sales see significant drop in previous two months
Sunday, 05 October 2008
Property sales at Centaline real estate have recorded a drop of 30 percent between July and September this year, compared to the previous quarter, said the executive director of the company, Rico Kwok.
Kwok also stressed that the drop was further, to 50 percent, when compared to that of the same period of last year.
According to the latest official data, during the first half of the year, the number of property transactions had fallen 22 percent against the same period last year, but total transactions rose by 4.4 percent.
On Tuesday, the president for the Macau Building and Civil Enterprises Association estimated that property prices in the market could fall between 30 and 40 percent by the end of the year.
According to Fong Chi Keong, president of the Macau Association of Building Contractors and Developers, the breach in the sector could extend for a year and a half.

Macau gaming revenues record first ever drop
Sunday, 05 October 2008
Casino revenues in September suffered a decrease of 3.5 to 4 percent over the same month last year, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.
In September 2007, Macau gaming revenues recorded a growth of 55 percent that was reflected by the opening of the Venetian Macao, but this year's figures show that Macau recorded a first time decline in the gaming sector since July 2005.
The gaming sector had shown a growth of 44.5 percent to 45 percent in the first nine months of 2008, due to strong rises in the first half of this year.
Between January and September, the gaming sector had received total gross revenues of 84.5 billion patacas, up by 1.5 million patacas, compared with the same period last year.
However, a closer look at the figures of the third quarter - 25.8 billion patacas, shows a clear slowdown. The total gross revenue for the first quarter were 29.8 billion patacas, while in the second quarter it reached 28.8 billion patacas.
Gaming analysts surmised the September drop was due to travel visa restrictions, which reduced the number of times a visitor from one of the mainland provinces could visit Macau.
September also meant changes to the market quota. Melco PBL usually fought with Wynn Resorts for third place, but this time suffered a small decline to fifth place with eight percent of the market. Still, the company continues to be slightly higher than MGM Macau, which closed September at sixth place with almost eight percent of the market.
Ahead of the market for the second month in a row is Las Vegas Sands with more than 28 percent followed by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau with 25.5 percent.
Wynn Resorts kept third place in the monthly rankings with 19 percent, while with a little help from Melco PBL’s fall, Galaxy hung onto fourth place with 10 percent of the market

^^
At least LVS has increased share in backdrop of fall in gaming...
Hopefully, this will encourage LVS to continue developing Cotai projects on current pace.

40 precent drop in property means all first time buyers of all projects Nova city, Buckingham, onecentral, grandtai are losing money......hard to believe......

In a down market, 40%, 50%, 60% drop all sound good for the media, they may soon be prediting prices back to Sars level where you could pick up an apartment for less than $500/sf.

People who has no holding power in a down market will lose money, this is always true.

Retail sales up 31 percent to 4.75 billion in 3Q
Friday, 21 November 2008
The value of retail sales for the third quarter of this year was estimated at 4.75 billion patacas, up notably by 31 percent over the same period last year.
Latest figures from the Statistics and Census Services show that retail sales of watches, clocks and jewellery took the largest share of 16 percent of the total, at 770 million patacas, followed by sales of goods in department stores at 13 percent or 597 million patacas, goods in supermarkets at 9 percent, adults' clothing 8 percent, motor vehicles at 8 percent, automotive fuels at 5 percent, fuels for household use at 4 percent, communication equipment also at 4 percent, cosmetics and sanitary articles as well as goods in pharmacies and household electric appliances at 3 percent each.
The value of retail sales for the third quarter went up by 31 percent from 3.61 billion patacas from a year earlier, with marked increases in the sales of goods in department stores, watches, clocks and jewellery, adults' clothing, goods in supermarkets, automotive fuels, and communication equipment. As against the revised 4.63 billion patacas sales in the second quarter of this year, the value of retail sales in the third quarter increased by 3 percent.
In the first three quarters of this year, the cumulative value of retail sales amounted to 13.92 billion patacas, up considerably by 39 percent, year-on-year.
In the third quarter this year, about 60 percent of the retailers reported decrease in the sales volume from the second quarter, up by 16 percentage points over the corresponding figure in the previous quarter, while about 40 percent reported that the sales volume remained stable or increased.
In terms of retail prices, about 44 percent reported the prices were stable, while 27 percent stated that the prices increased whereas 29 percent reported the prices decreased.
Compared with the third quarter of last year, about 64 percent said that the stock level was normal in the third quarter this year, while 22 percent indicated that the stock level was low.
Regarding the business outlook for the fourth quarter this year, about 56 percent expected the sales volume to increase or remain stable compared with the third quarter, whereas 44 percent expected a decrease.
Meanwhile, about 84 percent expected the retail prices in the fourth quarter to remain stable or increase, while 16 percent expected a decrease.

^^
Headline figures up massively... good for shop workers.. but hard to compare, and figures irrelevant with respect to fact that y-o-y comparison due to HUGE supply of shops in past year (Venetian mall, other openings).
More telling is 60pc reported decrease compared with 2Q. This fits in with other stories (remember SCMP reported on a HK-based retailer which opened 5 stores, I think in Venetian, who said said sales all below forecast).
Also first 3Q growth 39% compared with 31% only shows last quarter really dragged down earlier growth.

Not being bearish, but being factual. I think everyone knows 3Q was worse than expectations and worse than 1h. So headline cant be taken as positive.

I just hope that they can keep vacancy low in Venetian mall. I think we realise it does take time for new project to ramp up and for shopping in Macau to develop. And whether the huge expansion has enough (long term ) demand.
I think Venetian has been bringing more space online (eg in Four Seasons). Hopefully, this is a positive. But I think those who have visited know that sales probably not fantastic. Just hope there isn't a big reverse given current situation.

Information of the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the population of Macao was estimated at 557,000 as at 30 September 2008, an increase of 25,000 from a year earlier.

In the third quarter of 2008, there were 1,221 live births, up by 11.7% quarter-to-quarter, with male babies accounting for 51.8%. The number of mortality cases was 405 and the major underlying cause of death was “Malignant Neoplasms” and “Diseases of the Circulatory System”. Meanwhile, 9 cases of fetal mortality were recorded.

The Health Bureau received 614 cases of Notifiable diseases in the third quarter, a decrease of 150 cases over the preceding quarter, including 156 cases of “Acute Norovirus Gastroenteropathy”, 111 cases of “Varicella (chickenpox)” and 91 cases of “Tuberculosis of Lung”. Besides, cases of “Hand, Foot and Mouth Diseases” dropped significantly from 302 in the last quarter to 53 cases.

In addition, 745 cases of marriage were registered, up slightly by 0.4% over the second quarter of 2008.

The number of legal immigrants from Mainland China totalled 621 in the third quarter of 2008, a decrease of 94 over the preceding quarter; meanwhile, 331 illegal immigrants were repatriated. The end-quarter balance of individuals authorized to reside in Macao went up by 1,700 over the second quarter of 2008 to 47,191.

The end-quarter balance of non-resident workers was 104,281, an increase of 5,776 over the second quarter of 2008.

^^^^
This indicator (was) looking good.
Foreign workers increased by almost 6% QOQ, overall population growing rapidly still at 5% on year...
Supposedly, 5k workers may mean need for approx 1800 homes on quarter (presuming 3x per property). That would've been a great result, and implied demand of 7200 units annually (a lot).

However, with LVS sending home 9000 workers, we know this should drop in 4Q. This plus Galaxy megaresort delay also..

Hopefully, LVS can fix their loan soon and restart, and all this can be reversed, and hopefully a SARS like recovery in market 9 months down the line (ie long term trend uninterrupted, with SARS just one off blip).

40 precent drop in property means all first time buyers of all projects Nova city, Buckingham, onecentral, grandtai are losing money......hard to believe......

Not really that hard... there aren't enough people in Macau capable of/willing to support a MOP20,000 mortgage every month for 25 years... and it is not reasonable to believe outsiders would buy to actually live in Macau.

So the market was fuelled on pure speculation and pipe dreams of an "Asia Las Vegas"... with 100,000 plus new jobs paying over MOP50,000 to people really wanting stay here on the medium-long term...

Well, there are plenty of apartment buildings in Taipa where an apartment accomodates 10+... And there really is no need for new homes, there are plenty of vacant homes already in Macau and Taipa.

Don't think we were ever thinking about 100,000 jobs over 50k.
Just a few thousand would've been enough to support 20k mortgages (gives approx price of 7-8m flat).
For mid-income 10k mortgage gives very affordable level (at 30%) for income of 30k. That is income level of 15k per couple. That equates to housing at $3-4m range if you include downpayment, or 1000-2000 sf, more than OK size for mid income. Over 1000 is considered almost luxury/large in HK. If that is 1/3 of population, thats 100-150k units.
If presumption correct, these figures are considered very affordable (MOP2000-4000 psf)

Hopefully, LVS can fix their loan soon and restart, and all this can be reversed, and hopefully a SARS like recovery in market 9 months down the line (ie long term trend uninterrupted, with SARS just one off blip).

What we hope is China banks will want to finance LVS's Shangrila/Sheraton projects. Unfortunately, this Crisis will not be like SARS; the global economy economy outside of Asia is fine during SARS period; and once the virus "disappeared", everything is back to normal. This is different this time. The global financial system is at the edge of collapse...policy makers have to fix it now.

^^
True, this is far different, and more global (so maybe slower to return to normal).
Maybe being optimistic, but hoping if banks can stabalise, start lending, etc. we could see a bottom hopefully in early 2009 (tho this doesn't mean end of recession).
If stocks, LVS recovers, thinking maybe this will take out the 'distressed' sales, so maybe allowing a 10-20% quick bounce back to more normal pricing.

Yes, SARS bigger bounce, as rest of world OK. But SARS still much worse locally - it did seem more like end of world than this does. Hotels had <10% occupancy, visitors and expats vanished. You didn't know if SARS was going to return in 6 months.
SARS only knocked another 10% off prices. Admittedly, prices were at lowest level since 1997 then. And SARS was close to 911 - when there was another panic in stocks, and a (minor) US recession.

Just saying
1) Stocks could bounce 30+% if signs of recession at bottom (ie less worse figures, like US job losses running at 50-75% of worse rate)
2) LVS gets financing, construction begins
3) Visitor numbers grow/visa relaxation policy.
These can happen in 6 months. This could boost prices 20% (from whichever low which may or may not be reached).

Of course, this may not happen, and things still can get worse.

Maybe being optimistic, but hoping if banks can stabalise, start lending, etc. we could see a bottom hopefully in early 2009 (tho this doesn't mean end of recession).

Not too sure if you mean bottom on global equities or Macau properties. Equities tend to be ahead of physical assets such as properties. So if equities rise in 1st half of 2009, we probably have to wait till 2nd half of 09 for properties to recover.

If stocks, LVS recovers, thinking maybe this will take out the 'distressed' sales, so maybe allowing a 10-20% quick bounce back to more normal pricing.

For 2009, I think we should focus on the opening of City of Dream and the new Wynn Diamond, which hopefully will attract more people to Macau. Based on the past history of Las Vegas, every new mega attraction bring the growth rate to new unprecedented level. So let's hope visa policy loosed up next year, China maintained a growth rate of 8%, and Macau can benefit from both openings.

If LVS recovers and obtain new loans, the opening of Shangrila/Sheraton will not be ready till 2010 or beyond, so that will not be the catalyst for next year. Meanwhile, hopefully, the MICE strategy will start a new growth for Venetian/Four Seasons. The recent mobile show has attract global attention on its MICE, so that is a good beginning.


Yes, SARS bigger bounce, as rest of world OK. But SARS still much worse locally - it did seem more like end of world than this does. Hotels had <10% occupancy, visitors and expats vanished. You didn't know if SARS was going to return in 6 months.
SARS only knocked another 10% off prices. Admittedly, prices were at lowest level since 1997 then. And SARS was close to 911 - when there was another panic in stocks, and a (minor) US recession.

Again, don't compare this to SARS, which is just a short term Crisis. Once virus "disappeared", everyone travel again. Banking system was in good shape; no credit crunch. I think you are too optimistic if you think this is just like SARS. Better comparison is to Asian Crisis in 98/99 but still worse than that.


Just saying
1) Stocks could bounce 30+% if signs of recession at bottom (ie less worse figures, like US job losses running at 50-75% of worse rate)
2) LVS gets financing, construction begins
3) Visitor numbers grow/visa relaxation policy.
These can happen in 6 months. This could boost prices 20% (from whichever low which may or may not be reached).

Of course, this may not happen, and things still can get worse.

Just my opinion based on your above points:
1. Let's hope Obama's new economic team's stimulus package is strong enough so that the global economy will recover in second half of 2009;
2. I don't think LVS will get financing next year. Banks will wait until the economy grow again before they lend out new money. So based on most optimistic picture that the economy will recover in second half of 2009, banks will only lend again in 2010. Which means Shangrila/Sheraton will only open in 2011. I will say this is the most optimistic view.

HONG KONG - CHINESE Vice President Xi Jinping urged Macau to diversify its economy as the gaming hub continues to suffer from falling tourist numbers amid the global financial crisis, reports said on Sunday.

'We should leave room for adequate diversification and properly handle the relationship between development and conservation,' Mr Xi said during a two-day official visit to the city, according to a report in Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post.

Gambling constitutes the main source of revenue for Macau. But the financial crisis and dwindling traveller numbers have brought many large casino projects to a halt in recent months.

Contrary to speculation that he would announce a relaxation of restrictions on mainlanders visiting Macau - where they make up the the bulk of visitors to the casinos - Mr Xi was silent on the gaming business, the Post and Chinese-language newspapers said.

Instead, Mr Xi said the development of the Chinese island of Hengqin, three times the size of Macau and just off its Cotai Strip gambling and entertainment district, would soon begin and offer room for the city's broader development.

'Macau's need for diversification will be carefully considered in the development of Hengqin,' he said, according to the Post, adding that he had visited the island with Guangdong provincial governor Huang Huahua on Friday.

Macau, which arguably has the world's highest population density with 557,000 residents squeezed into 29 square kilometres of land, has long been eyeing the island as a solution to its population problem.

China toughened visa policies for visitors from the mainland to Macau late last year in an effort to cool growth. The move resulted in a 10 per cent drop in the city's gaming revenues for the third quarter, according to Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. -- AFP