Macau’s concessionaires are still working out the best way to allocate their mandatory investments into non-gaming facilities but are gradually learning how to best attract international visitation to the SAR, according to Wynn Macau’s Chief Financial and Chief Administrative Officer, Craig Fullalove.
Fullalove was speaking at Inside Asian Gaming’s first ever IAG Business Breakfast, held at Wynn Macau on Tuesday morning where a panel of industry experts discussed the topic, “Global Appeal: How Macau Can Create International Allure”.
Asked how Wynn was going about creating more international appeal at its Macau properties, Fullalove pointed to recent investments into non-gaming offerings – part of the Macau SAR Government’s requirements under the current 10-year concession contracts – but acknowledged it was still a case of learning on the move.
“From a concession standpoint, it has been a steep learning curve for us in the sense that the variety of different offerings and programming that we’re trying to put on today is so different from what we were doing before,” he said.
“Our intention is to try to weed out the stuff that doesn’t work quite quickly and then double down on the stuff that does, making sure that we’re creating something that truly is international, truly can drive a broader variety of customers to Macau longer term.”
Fullalove cited the inaugural International Series Macau presented by Wynn golf event the company hosted in March as an example of a successful initiative. The event, which saw around 20 of LIV Golf’s top 50 players take part including Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Graham McDonald, was broadcast in 105 different countries with the specific goal of highlighting Macau as a tourism destination.
“A lot of the mandates to the LIV stream was to broadcast Macau and kind of look at Macau’s cultural heritage, and that is very big reason why we did it,” Fullalove explained. “And I think those kinds of things will continue to elevate. Now, that takes time, right? The first year of any event, it takes time to build up awareness and it takes consistency to do that.
It’s going to take a few years for people to grow and form an awareness perspective as different concessionaires drop in what they consider to be their core events and really try to drive those.
“But as people become more aware, as that funnel grows over time for Macau, I think you will definitely start to see a lot more tourism coming in from alternative destinations to what we’re seeing today.”
Although Fullalove acknowledged that not all non-gaming initiatives have proven successful, there was an increasing element of cooperation between the city’s six concessionaires with the goal of ensuring each focuses on their unique strengths.
As reported by IAG, Macau’s concessionaires initially committed to spend a combined MOP$108.7 billion in non-gaming investment commitments over the 10-year period of their current concessions, which run from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2032, however this commitment has since increased by 20% after Macau’s GGR surpassed a MOP$180 billion “trigger” level in 2023.
“There has been a continued dialog with the government about where and how we would position some of that investment,” Fullalove said.
“But the goal for every operator is trying to play to their strengths, and everybody has different strengths in terms of where they focus and what they believe is better suited for their particular customer profile. So, we all kind of calibrate it around that.
“The nice thing about this entire process for me has been the collaboration with government, but also with the other concessionaires. There is a lot more dialog taking place now, because everybody’s now been put on the same page.
“There are always discussions around how do we make this better, can we improve it? And I think that all of that is great for Macau long term. Everybody is working hard, working collaboratively together to try to drive that.
“For me, being part of that process has been really quite rewarding and I’m very positive about the fact that we’ll get there.”
Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, who was also on the IAG Business Breakfast panel, said she was confident Macau will achieve its goal of increasing tourism from countries outside of Greater China, which currently comprise more than 90% of all visitation.
“It’s been quite interesting to watch because [under the original 20-year concession contracts] we had six different operators, each and every one with a different agenda,” she said. “Then all of a sudden the government came around and said, “I want all of these 11 areas [fulfilled] and you have to work on it whether you like it or not, whether you know how to do it or not. It’s a very, very steep learning curve.
“We want to have all different kinds of reasons for people to come to Macau so we need to have bigger events, but we are adapting to the new age as well so give us a couple of years. There will be a lot more that you will see coming around.”
The first IAG Business Breakfast saw around 100 guests in attendance to enjoy a light breakfast, networking coffee and the informative panel, which also featured Light & Wonder’s Vice President and Managing Director, Asia, Ken Jolly, with IAG’s Vice Chairman and CEO Andrew W Scott as moderator.
The event was sponsored by industry suppliers Aristocrat Gaming, IGT and Light & Wonder, with Wynn Macau as Venue Sponsor.
