Companies at the head of Macau’s burgeoning gambling industry will be happy to hear that air passengers are on the rise. The enclave’s air travel market had been on the wane for the past six months to May – dropping by almost 10% compared with last year’s numbers. June bucked this trend. The number of passengers passing through Macau International Airport increased by 5% in June and Anna Aero also reported that further growth has been forecast for July and August.
Much of the growth can be put down to 31% more weekly visitors from Mainland China as well as the same amount from South Korea. Singapore had the highest increase as 33% more landing on the enclave. 39% less arrived from Japan but with more routes launching that number is likely to return to a higher level in the coming years. It all means those in the casino business should see more customers coming through their doors.
The extent to which the enclave benefits from foreign investment was revealed in the latest World Investment Report published by the United Nations. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was totted up for 27 economies in the region and saw China and Hong Kong top the pile. Macau found itself in mid-table, 11th to be exact. The enclave’s FDI was at $2.56bn (MOP20.48bn), a drecease of 7.7% compared with 2009. This donward trent was in stark contrast to the rest of South East Asia where the FDI for the region rose 24%.
“Global FDI has not yet bounced back to pre-crisis levels, though some regions show better recovery than others. The reason is not financing constraints, but perceived risks and regulatory uncertainty in a fragile world economy,” said Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.
It was added that much of the FDI in Macau comes from the gaming industry and with developments expected on the Cotai strip it could increase for the current year.
