Inside Asian Gaming

November 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 15 Cover Story Happier times—locals turn out to cheer the Olympic flame before the Beijing 2008 Olympics this summer Double trouble—Mainland Chinese tourists bound for Hong Kong now need a separate permit to enter Macau casino monopoly ended, Mainland visitors accounted for only 20% of Macau’s total visitors, with Hong Kong visitors comprising the vast majority. By the end of 2003, the IVS along with strong growth in Chinese tour groups led to the share of visitors coming from the Mainland rising to over 50%. In 2007, there were 26.9 million visitors to Macau—14.8 million, or 55.1% of them, were from Mainland China, with the number of Mainland visitors rising 26.8% from 2006. From June 1st this year, the central government limited the number of visits permitted under the IVS to one a month.This was further tightened to one visit every two months from July 1st, then one every three months from October 1st. In September 2008, 57% of visitors were from Mainland China, though owing to even more stringent restrictions placed on the IVS from June this year, the number of Mainland travellers coming to Macau with permits obtained under the scheme plunged 24.6% year-on-year in the month. Invasion or social progress? When the visitor influx is combined with the arrival of thousands of new migrant workers from overseas, it’s not surprising that a significant section of public opinion in Macau—and not just Western expatriates who liked the city’s previous slow pace— appear to feel the place has literally and metaphorically been invaded, with all the social dislocation and strain on resources that an invasion involves. The first signs of a fraternal falling out were seen in 2006. Worker associations in Macau and the city’s small number of long- term unemployed began complaining that some Mainland residents were abusing the ‘open door’ visa policy. Locals said visitors were using it as an opportunity to take black market jobs in the territory’s booming construction industry. At the same time, local employers were complaining that casinos offering above average salaries were poaching the best local workers. In January 2006, 60 of Macau’s business leaders met with He Xiaowei, then deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR (the body that acts as the go-between for the policy makers in Beijing and the lawmakers in Macau) to make their point. Mr He’s suggested solution was to allow more workers to be legally recruited from the Mainland, rather than from foreign countries such as the Philippines, though he pointed out that by law Chinese citizens wouldn’t be allowed to work on casino floors. Unfortunately, Macau’s long-term unemployed took this not as a patriotic gesture aimed at integrating Guangdong citizens and Macau residents in ever closer economic union, but as a measure that threatened even more competition for non- gaming jobs. Summer of discontent On May 1st that year, unemployed workers took to the streets with placards protestingnot just at thepresenceofmigrant workers from other countries, but also at the arrival of mainlanders. The protestors clashed with police, the latter using batons and shields to control them. Soon after this incident, promises were made by the Macau government to help retrain and reassign the long-term unemployed, and there was a slowdown in the issuing of work permits to foreigners and a clamp down on illegal Mainland workers on construction sites. Resentment simmered on for another year. This time things got more serious. During May Day disturbances in 2007, at least one local policeman, either too frightened or too indisciplined to know better, drew his service side arm and fired live bullets into the air. A ricochet hit a passing motorcyclist and the incident received international attention. Ten people were arrested and 21 police officers injured during the demonstration and subsequent disturbance involving 2,400 protesters. Only weeks after this, at the end of May 2007, Guangdong announced the first amendments to the administration of the Individual Visit Scheme for its residents wishing to visit Macau. The timing may have been a coincidence, but the issue of ‘social harmony’ and how it might affect the relationship between Macau and China was certainly on the political agenda by then. The new system for processing and issuing visas was announced via the travel industry. Guangdong said it had ended the practice of accepting urgent permit applications for trips to Macau and that there should be a two-month gap between each application to visit Macau. In reality, when the practice of storing up previously granted permits was taken into account, it meant Guangdong visitors were effectively limited to visiting once a fortnight. The policy may have placated Macau’s militant unemployed, but it did little to cool down Macau’s economy. In June this year, with local inflation rising above the Pearl River Delta Region average and Macau’s gross gaming revenues growing at 52% year on year, Guangdong residents were limited to one visit every month. In July, that was further tightened to one visit every two months. In addition, from September 1st, Mainlanders travelling to or working in Hong Kong have been required to apply for a separate permit to visit Macau. From the beginning of October, Mainland visitors to Macau were restricted to one trip every three months.