Speaker 1: Let's get to Hong Kong. Now. Macau planning to welcome
Speaker 1: back to groups from mainland China as soon as November
Speaker 1: to boost its tourism dependent economy. It comes as Hong
Speaker 1: Kong it's ditching quarantine from today. Joining US is Angela Hanley,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Intelligence analysts on APAT Gaming and Hospitality research. I mean,
Speaker 1: Macau has been hit so hard by the restrictions. What
Speaker 1: is the outlook now that we will see some tour
Speaker 1: groups welcome back. Well, um, I think this is definitely
Speaker 1: a positive news for Macca casino operatus, especially for Galaxy
Speaker 1: since China and Maca results, because I believe that these
Speaker 1: tour groups appropriately probably float into quota integra di uitals first.
Speaker 1: So but the issue is that the group tours have
Speaker 1: never been the major driver for Maca casinos because they're
Speaker 1: spending per head it's not high. So I would just
Speaker 1: say that this is kind of revitalizing those currently empty
Speaker 1: casino flows in Macau. But I won't actually expect much
Speaker 1: changes for this year, so we still keep our forecast
Speaker 1: that the gaming revenue this year may only reach of
Speaker 1: prep COVID level. But I think this is a signal
Speaker 1: that the mainland Chinese government wants to relax more. So
Speaker 1: probably this will follow with the more proverbs for individual
Speaker 1: like visas for individual visitors. Then that can be kind
Speaker 1: of bringing some upside to forecasts for the gaming revenue
Speaker 1: of next year. Yeah, indeed, so we need the wealthy
Speaker 1: big spenders to come back to those tables to really
Speaker 1: push up revenue. There. Tell us though, just a little
Speaker 1: bit more about this initial reopening. I mean, who is
Speaker 1: going to be allowed to go on these two groups
Speaker 1: those people? I think tours are starting from Shanghai and
Speaker 1: also some other provinces like Bangdong Province. So previously I
Speaker 1: think um Chinese people like a mainland Chinese people, when
Speaker 1: they want to go to Macau, they don't need to
Speaker 1: do any quarantine, so the issue was more about whether
Speaker 1: government authorities allow them to go or not. So at
Speaker 1: LAS now they are allowing these tours, so those people
Speaker 1: will go, and I guess most of them should be
Speaker 1: probably later traveler who has been in China like for
Speaker 1: for more than two or three years. So obviously these
Speaker 1: provinces are kind of more of fluted than others. But
Speaker 1: still I don't believe that this will bring that much
Speaker 1: upside on this year's gaming revenue forecast. How much has
Speaker 1: the very strict policy that's been in place for nearly
Speaker 1: three years now affected Macau as an attractive hub and
Speaker 1: seeing Singapore and the Philippines benefit in terms of relocation
Speaker 1: of staff too. Yeah, so obviously other countries like a
Speaker 1: Singapore and Philippines had more friendly policies for these casino prayers,
Speaker 1: but I think they are catering different clients. So we
Speaker 1: also heard some news about some Chinese people are actually
Speaker 1: relocating to Singapore. Then probably those people are the ones
Speaker 1: who are going to Singapore casinos. But other than that,
Speaker 1: I think it's very unlikely that mainland Chinese rich people
Speaker 1: will actually go to Singapore to gambo rather than going
Speaker 1: to Macau. And I think the issue was more that
Speaker 1: it's very complicated to fly, so uh. As long as
Speaker 1: this kind of recovery kickscene, I believe mainland Chinese people
Speaker 1: still continue to go to Macau to gamble, but those
Speaker 1: casinos in Singapore and Philippines could benefit from booming economy
Speaker 1: in that area. We know that it is about the
Speaker 1: wealthy people at the tables that are gonna really boost revenue,
Speaker 1: but when we do see a reopening and you're seeing
Speaker 1: that with quarantine easing in Hong Kong too. How much
Speaker 1: is Macau come back just in terms of being an
Speaker 1: attractive tourism hub to for concerts and the like. For me,
Speaker 1: I think Macau's gaming revenue has been like a million
Speaker 1: Chinese paper has been contributing on gaming revenue Macau. So
Speaker 1: it's more about the business between mainland China and Macau,
Speaker 1: and Macau is obviously priorititizing the opening with China first,
Speaker 1: which is very much because there's many stuff in Macau
Speaker 1: are working from China, they're community from China every day,
Speaker 1: so there is no way for Maccau to open to
Speaker 1: the other world if mainland China keeps like that kind
Speaker 1: of policy. Alright, Angela will see what happens, but mainland
Speaker 1: tour groups as soon as November to allowed back into Macau.
Speaker 1: Angela Hanley is Bloomberg Intelligence analysts on APAT gaming and
Speaker 1: hospitality research, joining us from our Hong Kong studio