Wynn Macau Ltd saw turnover from its direct VIP business during the Chinese National Day holiday period in October outperform the same period in 2019, suggesting strong pent-up demand at the premium end of the market, according to Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings.
While Wynn’s Macau operations fell to a US$163 million loss in 3Q22, Billings told analysts during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday morning that there had been some positive signs since in both the premium gaming and retail segments.
“We saw some encouraging pockets of demand during the October holiday period, particularly in our direct VIP business where turnover was actually slightly above the comparable 2019 holiday period,” he said.
“And in our retail business, tenant sales reached 74% of 2019 levels. This once again highlights storing demand for Macau’s unique tourism offering during period when the market is accessible.”
Pushed for more information by analysts, Billings explained, “We’re not living in a balloon and the demand has to go somewhere, so we weren’t surprised to see an uptick in direct VIP growth in light of the market having no junkets. I don’t think it was surprising to us. We’ve seen it before over the course of the past year when there have been pockets of demand.”
Wynn noted, however, that they are yet to see any benefit from the recent reopening of mainland China’s electronic visa system.
“They haven’t really gotten moving yet,” said Wynn Macau President Ian Michael Coughlan. “They reopened on 1 November and wouldn’t have had an impact on our October activity.
“The activity that we saw in our VIP area and premium mass is linked to a certain extent to returning former junket players. We also saw that in Chinese New Year so we believe it is our premium positioning in the market and the facilities and services we offer that make us attractive to those players and there will be a return of them in the future.”
Asked when specifically he expected to see some impact from the reopening of eVisas, Coughlan replied, “We were very impressed with the government’s reaction to the recent outbreak in Macau. When we had an outbreak in the summer and had a casino closure it was a six-week cycle of closure and recovery and the government has managed to turn it around to two weeks this time around.
“We are now starting to see a build-up in occupancy this coming weekend, so we’re coming out of our recent outbreak and I believe we will see the eVisas trickle in over the next couple of weeks and then pick up pace in the coming months.”
