Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2020年10月 亞博匯 28 COVER STORY ready to travel. But not everyone believes VIPs will lead Macau’s revival. “Recovery in Macau has to rely on mass. VIP is such low-quality revenue, a low-margin, high-volatility, commoditized business that’s highly competitive,” Bonnet says. “Integrated resorts are built on business plans that require 20,000 people or more every day to drive primarily mass market [gaming], mass-market and luxury retail businesses,” Bonnet adds. “IRs can’t sustain on a couple of VIPs coming in and playing.” HOME COOKING Beyond Macau, Singapore reopened its IRs on 1 July. In late August, PAGCOR greenlighted Manila casinos to begin “trial run” reopenings at 30% capacity. Korea’s foreigner-only casinos have opened and closed in response to new coronavirus outbreaks, while Kangwon Land has been mainly closed throughout. Self-governing Jeju island’s Casino Policy Division has implemented COVID response protocols and has four of its eight casinos open. Vietnam’s only casino for nationals, Corona Resort on Phu Quoc island, is waiving the entry fee for qualified citizens through 14 October. Those destinations and others around the region have virtually no foreign visitors entering – particularly challenging for foreigner-only casinos. “The formation of travel bubbles between adjacent nations that have tamed the virus presents the best opportunity for an initial recovery,” Andrew Klebanow says. “Unfortunately, travel bubbles, like most bubbles, are fragile. Any resurgence of the virus in one nation can cause a travel bubble to burst.” Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa gaming floors are open only to their loyalty card holders and players that have paid Singapore’s SG$3,000 (US$2,205) annual entry fee for that casino. Singapore permits “essential” business travel from Malaysia, 力意味著營運商得向最大的客戶營銷。分析人士認為，高端賭客 受到病毒帶來經濟問題的影響較小，他們更願意旅行。但並非所 有人都同意，貴賓博彩將引領澳門的復甦。 「澳門的復甦必須依靠中場。貴賓博彩是低質量的收入，其 利潤低、波動性高，商品化業務競爭高度激烈。」Bonnet說。 「綜合度假村建立在每天需要2萬人或以上的商業計劃的基 礎上，從而推動中場（博彩）、大眾市場及奢侈品零售業務。」Bon- net補充稱，「綜合度假村不能僅僅依靠幾個貴賓客戶。」 內循環 除澳門外，新加坡也於7月1日重新開放了綜合度假村。8月下 旬，PAGCOR為馬尼拉賭場亮了綠燈，准許其以30％的容量「試運 營」。為了應對新冠疫情，韓國僅限外國人入內的賭場時而開放時 而關閉，而江原樂園疫情期間幾乎一直關閉。獨自運作的濟州島 的賭場政策部門已實施了新冠疫情響應協議，8間賭場中已有4家 已經開業。而越南唯一一間允許國民入內的賭場、位於富國島的 Corona Resort則將向符合條件的公民免收取入場費，直至10月 14日。 這些目的地以及該區域的其他地方幾乎沒有外國遊客進入， 這對於只接待外國人的賭場而言尤其具有挑戰性。 「在控制了病毒的鄰國之間打造旅遊氣泡（安全圈）是初步 復甦的最佳機會，」Andrew Klebanow表示，「不幸的是，像大多數 泡沫一樣，旅行氣泡也很脆弱。病毒在任何一個國家的捲土重來 都可能導致旅遊氣泡的破裂。」 濱海灣金沙和聖淘沙名勝世界的賭場僅向持有會員卡及已 經支付了3000新元（2,205美元）入場費的玩家開放。 新加坡目前允許來自馬來西亞、中國、韓國及日本（截至9月 18日）的由公司或政府機構背書的「必要」商務旅客，須在出發及 到達時進行檢測，抵達後14天內「行程受控」。而自從9月初開始， 來自紐西蘭和汶萊的遊客無需隔離，導致每日都有少量遊客抵 達。消息人士指，這些例外並未對賭場收入產生實質影響。 《亞博匯》獲悉聖淘沙名勝世界的主要景點環球影 城、S.E.A.水族館、酒店及「大部分」的餐飲及零售商店現已開放。 摩根士丹利的分析師Choudhary、Gareth Leung和Thomas Allen 認為，聖淘沙名勝世界是「在該區同業中從國際遊客處獲得收入 最高，達到75％」，因此在國際旅行恢復之前，其復甦要慢過濱海 灣金沙。 濱海灣金沙的空中花園及無邊際泳池業已開放。無邊際泳池