Macau’s tourism industry will receive a much needed boost in the coming months with around 8,000 new hotel rooms coming on line, but according to leading Asian gaming analyst Aaron Fischer the Macau government should aim to double the current quota.
Speaking to WGM about the current state of the Macau gaming industry, Fischer – the Head of Consumer and Gaming Research for CLSA Asia Pacific Markets – forecast Macau’s total number of rooms to reach 38,000 by the end of 2016 but has called for at least twice that many to help the city become a genuine tourist destination.
“We’re forecasting by the end of this year there will be 38,000 hotel rooms in Macau and 46,000 by 2018,” Fischer said. “Las Vegas has over 140,000. We see no reason why Macau, which sits on the doorstep of China with 1.4 billion people, shouldn’t have close to 100,000 rooms. If the Macau government said tomorrow that their new goal was to have 120,000 hotel rooms, I would say, ‘That’s a good idea.’
“You only have to look at the data points. In Q1 the occupancy rate for Galaxy Macau was 99 percent. It’s got 4,200 rooms and the average room rate is US$250 per night so if occupancy is running at that level and room rates are at that level, it means we have an under-supply situation for hotel rooms.
“We would welcome the doubling of the number to 80,000 and beyond. It seems excessive but it’s not. It would take some rezoning but it’s not impossible.”
