There are probably worse things in the world than being locked in a Hong Kong hotel for a week and being forced to watch cable TV and eat takeaway pizza. Imagine if the unfortunate Mexican traveller who sparked the swine flu alert there had been staying at a Macau casino hotel rather than a Wanchai hostelry.
What scenes would ensue if a casino’s management suddenly announced that every player, every hotel guest and in some cases every conference delegate would have to stay put for seven days?
While some Chinese gamblers might welcome the opportunity for an extended stay at the tables or slots, Asian Gaming Intelligence doubts their families and their bank managers would be as keen. And no matter how good Cirque du Soleil’s performers may be, there are only so many times a person can watch even a show such as ZAIA without wanting to join a meeting of Circus Goers Anonymous.
It may all sound far fetched, but with China confirming a swine ‘flu case this week, the microbiological battle of Wanchai’s Metropark Hotel may be won, but East Asia’s war against a new flu pandemic goes on.
Industry sources tell Asian Gaming Intelligence that the Macau government is actively considering asking casinos to put up detection equipment at the public entrances to each property to monitor every visitor’s body temperature. The sources add that casinos are already doing these checks on their own staff.
No casino operator likes the idea of making their property about as welcoming as an airport immigration arrivals hall, but if it saves lives and profits then they will have to suck it up. Older hands in the Macau gaming industry remember what a devastating effect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had on visitor numbers to the territory after the outbreak in neighbouring Guangdong province and Hong Kong in 2003.
If the temperature checks are introduced, AGI hopes the staff charged with monitoring the equipment are more diligent than those manning the metal detectors at some of Macau’s pleasure palaces. With the notable exception of the Sands Macau, where the front door greeters occasionally seem more like guest deterrence officers than security staff, there’s often a distinctly Macau-like approach to formalities. On more than one occasion this correspondent has walked through the metal detector at a high profile property with enough electronic hardware in his pockets to stock a computer mall, to be greeted not with a gruff command to step to the side for a pat down, but with a cheery smile. It’s great customer service but not what you’re looking for when it comes to fighting microbiological warfare.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
