The move is expected to benefit casinos as Macau aims to attract high-spending visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Macau.- Citizens from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman will be granted visa-free entry to Macau from July 16. The move is part of broader efforts to diversify tourism, but it’s believed that it will also benefit Macau’s casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sands China’s shares rose more than 5 per cent on Monday following the news, although they fell by 1.8 per cent today and are down by 2.7 per cent compared to a week ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Current arrivals from the Gulf are believed to be low, and aren’t even included in official statistics. All international long-haul markets together represented just 0.1 per cent of tourist numbers last year. However, the aim appears to be to lays groundwork for long-term growth in both tourism and investment. Macau\u2019s Tourism Office has been promoting the city in Gulf markets, promoting awareness of halal-friendly services, as it aims to draw high-spending visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daily gross gaming revenue in early June was slightly below May, but financial institutions remain optimistic: Citi forecasts a 4 per cent annual increase in Macau\u2019s gambling revenue. JPMorgan and UBS echo the optimism, highlighting infrastructure developments like the Capella Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macau has been aiming to transition away from a gambling-centric economy. The city\u2019s six licensed operators are collectively investing MOP130bn (USD 16bn) into non-gaming sectors, including healthcare, technology, and finance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The move is expected to benefit casinos as Macau aims to attract high-spending visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":21513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Macau is granting visa-free entry to citizens from five Gulf nations starting July 16, a strategic move to diversify its tourism base and attract high-spending visitors, which is also expected to benefit the city's gaming operators. Despite current low visitor numbers from these markets, financial institutions remain optimistic about Macau's long-term GGR growth, aligning with the city's broader MOP130bn investment into non-gaming sectors by its six licensed operators.","focusai_entities":"Sands China, Citi, JPMorgan, UBS, Macau's Tourism Office","focusai_location":"Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.75), operator_casino (0.9), marketing_crm (0.8), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"GGR Impact","query":"What is the projected incremental GGR contribution from Gulf region visitors to Macau's licensed operators over the next 12-24 months, considering the current low base?"},{"label":"Diversification ROI","query":"How will the MOP130bn non-gaming investment by Macau's six licensed operators be strategically leveraged to attract and monetize this new high-spending demographic from the Gulf nations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,154,24566],"tags":[257,23906,24680],"class_list":["post-777027941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legislation-news","category-uncategorized","tag-macau","tag-macau-casinos","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777027941"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777027969,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027941\/revisions\/777027969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777027941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777027941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777027941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}