Tourism growth continues to be robust in Macau despite hurdles such as China's proposed visa tightening policy and the United States subprime crisis. The region's market leader in hotel investment and advisory services, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (JLLH) identified Macau as one of the key growth markets in Asia over the next five years. The firm states that Macau will benefit from intra-regional travel which will be the key driver for growth in the region.
Based on JLLH Digest Asia 2008, the city will continue to experience strong growth in its tourism and hotel industry and market sentiment remains strong. A record 30.6 million international visitor arrivals is expected this year, a 13.3 per cent increase on last year. A compound annual growth rate of 11.6 per cent is also foreseen in inbound travellers between this year and 2010.
Chee Hok Yean, JLLH executive vice-president and head of corporate advisory Asia, said success was driven by the liberalisation of the gaming industry in Macau.
'The Individual Visit Scheme is another factor which has helped bring in Chinese travellers, with arrivals from the mainland tripling between 2002 and 2007,' said Ms Chee.
'The opening of new casino resorts including the Venetian Macao, MGM and Wynn Macau has helped increase the average length of stay and hence spending in Macau.'
Occupancy for four and five-star hotels reached a nine-year high in 2007 when the opening of the Venetian Macao heralded a new generation of integrated resorts on the Cotai Strip set to transform the city into Asia's Las Vegas.