Je reprends ce blog, quelques années plus tard, et peut-être avec enfin quelque chose à dire sur une base régulière. Twitter via Facebook c'est un peu court et avec l'année électorale qui s'annonce à Macao, l'appel du civisme se fait sentir, même si je n'ai toujours pas le droit de vote (eh oui, il faut être résident permanent, soit habiter l'endroit depuis 7 ans ET faire la demande de résidence permanente. En 2010, je serai normalement résident permanent, mais les prochaines législatives ne seront qu'en 2013). Tout ça pour dire qussi que je vais switcher vers l'anglais - I am going to switch to English: even though some of
my acquaintances believe that Esperanto is still the way to go, I have given up even before starting (this is called common sense; no sarcasm there).
Today, I just reproduce this piece of good journalism by Destination Macau regarding the January statistics on the economy of Macao (this is dated February 6). The more I live in Macao, the more I think that things have indeed to be spiced up by adding humor to actual reporting and unraveling.
"Gaming revenue crashes, and then ... wow!
We all love Lusa, the Portuguese news agency, for their timely scoops on Macau's gaming revenue figures. But we have to wonder why they released a report just before the start of Chinese New Year showing that Macau's gaming revenue in January was, until that point, down 30 per cent on January 2008. They are smart enough to know that their mole at the DICJ was feeding them these numbers in the full knowledge that Chinese New Year would make them irrelevant in a week's time. But they are also smart enough to know that most US-based fund managers and investment-banking analysts are not knowledgable enough to appreciate that.
The reaction was predictable. Shares in the US-listed operators were hammered. LVS was hit hardest, down almost a third over the week. This is despite the fact that investors would know better if they had memories that could stretch back further than the last piece of bad news. If they could go back to January 2008, they might have remembered that was the month that the Amax deal at Crown kicked in, and VIP revenues went off the charts. This January, Crown's revenues were about half of what they were back then. It was an anomaly driven by a surge in credit and commissions, which has now been corrected.
And then along came Chinese New Year. Even the normally dependable South China Morning Post chose to write reports from the comfort of Quarry Bay when the revised numbers were leaked this week. Those numbers showed that – whoa! – revenues for the first six days of the new year period were nearly the same as last year's comparable period, and the month's overall revenues were only down 17 per cent, at almost 9 billion patacas. If they or anyone else had hopped on a ferry during those six days (that is, if they could have bought a seat), they would have seen that Macau has lost none of its attraction for Chinese at this time of year. The main gaming floors at every major casino were packed. Grand Lisboa executives talked about numbers that were close to their opening days in 2007. The Venetian received 3 million visitors for the month. Even MGM Grand had a spike.
Overall, visitor numbers were 1.5 per cent lower than the same period last year – despite the restrictions on travelers under the Individual Visitation Scheme. In all, about 650,000 tourists crossed over during Golden Week alone. Ku Keng Min, head of the immigration authority, said the numbers were "beyond expectations". He told local media: "Initially we [the Immigration Department] expected that the border crossings would be jumped during the week, but I thought the numbers would still be normal due to the tightening of the individual visit scheme, the separate visa applications to Hong Kong and Macau and also the global economic environment." Ku thought wrong.
To be here, in the midst of an economic recession of incomparable magnitude, with Chinese government officials openly worrying about social unrest if the slowdown continues, and to see this kind of performance at Macau's casinos is remarkable. February may well struggle to follow January's act, but we fail to see how anyone in this industry could not be encouraged by the determination of Chinese gamblers to indulge their favorite pastime at this time of year."
Candidates, as well as voters, would have appreciated a smoother electoral process and a more fair and balanced contest. But that – various analysts point out – would have required an effective Legislative Assembly Electoral Commission. Vasco Fong’s team came under heavy fire in a debate organised by Macau CLOSER and the Portuguese daily Ponto Final at Clube Militar. On the table were democracy, the lack thereof, the role of the internet in the 2009 campaign, and what Macau is missing in terms of discourse and politics.
