Macau Casinos Slump on City’s Plan to Review Chinese Visits

bigbadwolf

Daryl Loo

February 23, 2015

(Bloomberg) -- Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. led declines in casino shares after a senior Macau official said the city wants to study restrictions on mainland Chinese tourists to ease overcrowding.

The government will approach China’s central government in Beijing to analyze Macau’s capacity for visitors, and to consider how “too many tourists impact residents’ quality of life,” local broadcaster Teledifusao de Macau cited the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng as saying on a radio talk-show.

Galaxy fell 2.5 percent to HK$41 as of 11:45 a.m. in Hong Kong trading, the lowest intraday level in more than two weeks. Sands China Ltd. dropped 2.4 percent, while Wynn Macau Ltd. fell 1.8 percent, MGM China Holdings lost 2.3 percent, and SJM Holdings Ltd. was down 1.3 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng index fell 0.6 percent.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in December urged Macau to diversify away from its reliance on casinos, and turn the city into a world tourism and leisure center. Macau’s casino revenue slumped an eighth straight month in January for the longest losing streak on record, as Xi’s two-year long crackdown on official corruption and stricter travel rules have deterred high rollers from entering the territory.
Visit Scheme

There will be talks between Macau and mainland authorities from the capital and provinces, the Macau Daily Times newspaper reported yesterday, citing Tam who spoke to reporters on Feb. 19.

China introduced the so-called Individual Visit Scheme in 2003 to allow mainland residents to visit Macau and Hong Kong by obtaining entry permits without the need to travel with tour groups. The program was first implemented in four Guangdong cities in the south and extended to 49 cities throughout China.

The number of mainland Chinese visitors to Macau for the first four days of the Lunar New Year rose 6.7 percent to 443,421, compared with the same lunar calendar period a year ago, according data from the Macau Government Tourist Office.

China’s Lunar New Year started from Feb. 19 this year, while the country’s public holiday for the festival is from Feb. 18 to Feb. 24. Hong Kong markets reopened yesterday after a two-day break.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daryl Loo in Singapore at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephanie Wong at [email protected]