Xi Jinping called on Macau to prioritize economic diversification as its first hope as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the Chinese gaming hub to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to Portugal.
Xi's remarks on Friday came during the inauguration ceremony of Macau's new chief executive, Sam Hou-fai, its fourth leader since the 1999 handover.
Analysts believe Sam, who is the city's first leader to be born in mainland China and the first without close ties to the business sector, will support Beijing's efforts for Macau to diversify beyond the Thu. This sector, which contributes about 80 percent of the city's tax revenue, has made it one of the world's fastest-growing economies in recent decades.
First of all, [Macau] The country should focus on promoting appropriate economic diversification, Xi said as he urged the Sams administration to increase policy support and investment in new industries.
Xi also said the “one country, two systems” agreement that guided the return of Macau and the neighboring former British territory of Hong Kong to Chinese rule must be maintained for a long time to ensure the prosperity and stability of the city.
The Chinese leader, who arrived in Macau on Wednesday, said he looked forward to meeting stakeholders across the city. He also visited the Macau University of Science and Technology, where he was briefed on research laboratories on traditional Chinese medicine and planetary sciences and attended a cultural performance at the Macau Dome, according to state media Chinese.
Xi's visit is important not only for its symbolism but also for its message, said Anthony Lawrance, founder of consultancy Intelligence Macau. This will be the first time he will congratulate Macao for a job well done. His previous trips were intended to scold and cajole.
Macau, the only Chinese territory where gambling is legal, has benefited from a sharp increase in investment since the liberalization of its gaming monopoly in 2002, notably from US-listed casino groups Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn.
But the city has become dependent on visitor flows from mainland China. Its economy suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic as strict quarantine and travel rules blocked arrivals.
Beijing also took steps in 2022 to crack down on junket operators who offered credits and lavish hospitality packages to lure high-spending Chinese players. The authorities accused them of running huge clandestine financial mechanisms.
As a condition of renewing their gaming licenses last year, six major Macau casino operators pledged more than 90 percent of their roughly $15 billion in combined investments over the next decade to unrelated businesses. to games such as congresses, events and exhibitions.
All operators in the sector are stepping up efforts to diversify and increase the non-gaming components of their offerings, Grant Chum, chief executive of Sands China, one of the largest employers in the sector, told the Financial Times this month. city.
But analysts say such a change would be difficult. Macau faces a number of challenges, said David Green, founder of Newpage Consulting and a former adviser to the city government, citing shortages of human resources, relatively high labor costs and the dominance of the gaming industry.
By 9 a.m. Friday, a steady stream of visitors had arrived at the city's casinos, but non-gaming offerings, such as a stamp exhibition organized in collaboration between MGM China and the Beijing Palace Museum, were largely ignored.
Guo, a 53-year-old driver from the neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai, said he had witnessed enormous changes since his first trip to Macau in 1979. But, he added as he exited of the casino at the Sands Chinas Venetian Macau resort, the Official efforts towards diversification had made no difference to him.
I took a look to see what the luck was in there, he said. Today I won over HK$500 [US$64]and that's pretty good.
