Macau
expects to attract more Indians to come and visit its popular places of attractions including museums, shopping malls and adventure sports in addition to casinos.
“Macau has been witnessing a 4.8% growth year-on-year. We expect it to do much better this year. This is because Macau is a perfect destination for leisure as well as meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions (MICE) activities,” said Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Head of India Representative Arzan Khambatta.
India has a population of close to 1.3 billion people and a vast majority of Indians in the 20’s-40’s are looking to travel to nearby holiday destinations and de-stress themselves from their fast-paced work life. In 2014, Macau visitor arrivals from India were 1,670,000.
Indians will find it easy to gain access to Macau as it provides them with an “on-arrival-visa.” They can also fly to Hong Kong and then catch a ferry to Macau from within the airport complex. The ferry ride is just 45 minutes and they can take a taxi from the terminal straight into Macau.
“In the future we will have a bridge connecting Hong Kong to Macau by road and hopefully some direct air connectivity will start that will open the gateway to this exciting destination,” Khambatta said.
In the wake of the mainland’s corruption crackdown and with increased competition from other jurisdictions that have embraced gaming such as Singapore and Philippines, Macau’s position as the world’s premier gaming destination is under threat. Last year the total number of visitors to Macau increased, but revenues remained down.
Macau casino operators are encouraged by the central government to pursue appropriate diversification and provide more non-gaming amenities.
