Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2020年10月 亞博匯 23 封面故事 S ince gaming liberalization in Macau, the mantra has been “If you build it, they will come.” In the brave new world of COVID-19, across Asia the mantra has shifted to “If we open it, will they come?” As border restrictions ease and more casino floors welcome visitors again, early answers will emerge. Whatever the shape of this initial gaming recovery, it can’t mask the long climb ahead to return the industry to pre-coronavirus revenue levels. “Hopefully, Macau’s GGR can return to 2019 levels by 2022 or 2023,” University of Macau gaming expert Ricardo Siu says. The prognosis around the region is hardly more promising as casinos operate with fewer chairs at gaming tables, alternating machines deactivated and other capacity limits. Still, easing travel restrictions promises significant improvement on gaming revenues down 95% from April through August in Macau, and zero casino revenue during the second quarter in Singapore, the Philippines and Cambodia. Since a government-mandated 15-day shutdown in February, Macau casinos have remained open throughout the pandemic. Travel restrictions, tightened in March, began loosening in July, first for visitors from neighboring Zhuhai – with a green health code from mainland China’s travel tracing app and negative test for the virus within seven days – then for all of Guangdong province, followed by resumption of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visas for Guangdong residents in August and for the rest of mainland China from 23 September. IVS travelers to Macau numbered a record 13.1 million last year, accounting for 47% of 27.9 million mainland visitors, and one-third of the 39.4 million overall arrivals. Visitors of all types from Guangdong represented similar numbers in 2019. 自 澳門開放博彩業以來，人們的口頭禪一直是「大 樓建造好，不怕客不來」。但是在新冠疫情之下的 「美麗新世界」中，整個亞洲的疑問都變成：「如 果我們開放了，客人會回來嗎？」 隨著通關政策的放寬及更多的賭場再次歡迎遊 客光顧，答案隨之浮出水面，無論初期博彩行業復甦情況如何，都 無法掩蓋博彩行業恢復至新冠疫情之前收入水平所面臨的漫漫 長路。 「希望澳門的博彩總收入能在2022年或2023年恢復至2019 年的水平，」澳門大學博彩專家蕭志成說道。由於賭場內賭枱周圍 的桌椅減少、交替使用角子機及其他開放程度的限制，區域前景 不甚樂觀。 不過旅遊政策的放寬有望顯著改善澳門博彩業的收入現狀。 今年4月至8月，澳門的博彩業收入下滑皆超過95％，而新加坡、菲 律賓及柬埔寨第二季度的博彩收入則為零。 除了政府在2月份下令關閉賭場15日之外，澳門的賭場在疫 情期間一直保持營業。今年3月收緊的出入境限制則自7月起開始 放寬。首先是針對毗鄰澳門的珠海遊客放寬——要求出示綠色健 康碼及7日內新冠病毒檢測呈陰性的報告——繼而是整個廣東省。 內地在8月恢復向廣東居民發放赴澳自由行簽注，並於9月23日在 內地其他地區也恢復辦理自由行簽注。去年持自由行簽注前往澳 門的遊客達到創紀錄的1,310萬，佔全部2,790萬赴澳內地遊客的 47%，3,940萬總入境人數的三分之一。2019年來自廣東省內的遊 客所佔比例相仿。 為了推動旅遊業的復甦，澳門旅遊局及六大博企特地推出了 針對內地市場的優惠促銷活動。觀察人士預計，簽證發放將在10 月中旬恢復到新冠疫情之前的正常水平。 再見了盈利？ 分析人士認為，博彩收入將隨著遊客的返回而增長。摩根士