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Macau tourism on the increase again

The growing popularity of casino gaming in Asia has been emphasised by the fact that gambling revenue for the Macau region rose to $6.4 billion for the first 11 months of 2006, it has been reported.

International credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has said that overall revenue for the resort was likely to have surpassed that of Las Vegas for the year as a whole.

Visitors to the big Macau casino resorts rose to 19.8 million during the same period &ndash an increase of 16 per cent. S&P asserts that the rise is down to the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the venues.

With Las Vegas Sands the latest company to have secured a construction deal in the city-state, revenues seem set to rise again in 2007.

"Billions of dollars are being invested to transform Cotai from a wasteland into a vacation destination," S&P advised, referring to a separate casino construction planned for 2007-2008.

Morgan Stanley this week put overall 2006 casino revenue for Macau at $6.8 billion, just ahead of Las Vegas' $6.5 billion.


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