Ep 250: Macau's Ongoing Quest to Diversify its Casino Tourism Economy, with Glenn McCartney, University of Macau

Casino Tourism. Concert & Event Tourism. Medical Tourism. The Night Economy. Live-streaming. Public-Private Tourism Partnerships. Many of the hot topics related to Macau’s diversification of its tourism economy and inbound market mix bear similarities to countries in South East Asia. There are two key differences, however.

1. Macau is the world city most reliant on tourism income as a proportion of GDP due to casino tourism, and it famously outstripped Las Vegas for gaming revenue in 2006.
2. Macau is 22 times smaller than Singapore, but last year attracted more than twice the total of visitors. To reduce its heavy reliance on visitors from China and Hong Kong, Macau is aggressively marketing to South East Asian travellers - and with some success.

To assess the future outlook, Gary is joined by Glenn McCartney, Associate Professor of Integrated Resort & Tourism Management at the University of Macau, and a Tourism and Hospitality Consultant and Executive Trainer. He worked in Macau’s hospitality industry during the handover from Portugal to China in 1999, and undertook research for the Macau Government on tourism and gaming development during the casino liberalisation period of the early 2000s.

Together, Gary and Glenn unpack the challenges ahead for Macau’s next phase of tourism economy development, and assess how the tiny island city is confronting new competition in casino tourism, as Japan, Thailand and the UAE covet this highly lucrative sector.