So after all my posts about sightseeing, food & drink and entertainment in Macau and Taipa, it’s time for an update on what’s been in the news around Macau and Taipa:
Casinos are bringing in money
Gross gaming and gambling revenues in Macau totalled 269.058 billion patacas (US$33.632 billion) in 2011, according to figures published by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (GICB).
Casino gambling in 2011 accounted for 267.867 million patacas, or 99.55 percent of total revenues and game that accounted for 91.3 percent of casino gambling revenues is baccarat – and if you’ve been to a casino in Macau you will have noticed all the baccarat tables and VIP seatings. At the end of the year, there were 34 casinos in Macau – so you’ll have to play in five casinos a day if you are only visiting for one week and want to see all of them! :-)
New ferry operator wants to sail to Taipa
Tribuna de Macau (Portufuguese-language newspaper) reported that a ferry operator applied for operations to/from the Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal. This is seemingly the first expression of interest in launching a new ferry service from the Taipa terminal since Macao Dragon ceased operations last September.
The budget operator stopped its service between Pac On and Hong Kong after a run of just 14 months and called in liquidators, blaming the shutdown on licensing problems. The CP sued the company and revoked the licence, as well as kept a MOP 2 million deposit required to start operations. Macao Dragon started operating routes from Hong Kong to Taipa in July 2010 and was well-known for its cheap tickets. CotaiJet is currently the only operator linking Hong Kong to Taipa
Hong Kong-Zuhai-Macau Bridge
Currently under development is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. It nis not just one bridge, but actually a series of bridges and tunnels that will connect Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, three major cities situated on the Pearl River Delta. The bridge will be 50km in total – with the longest bridge section spanning 22,8 km. The construction formally began on 15 December 2009 and the bridge is due for completion in 2016.
Ongoing discussions about a columbaria
This news has also been in the Hong Kong papers – and it’s about a call to introduce more regulation on columbaria. The Taipa Hills Memorial Garden project has been accused of ignoring the land concession contract, by providing burial niches to outside people (i.e. people from Hong Kong). The new columbarium will provide about 40,000 niches to the “undersupplied Macau, Hong Kong and Zhuhai markets”, according to the company. Currently prices range from HKD 40,000 to 378,000 – so yes, there is money to be made and Hong Kong is a big market. No wonder that the owners are trying to target outsiders, much to the dismay of Macau people.
Sands Cotai Central will be built within this year. That’s a huge project which was delayed because of the financial crisis. Do visit it and blog it =)
Ok – on my list of things to do!