Singapore versus Macau

While Macau remains reliant on Chinese tourists, we expect Singapore to capture other Asian markets. The island-state also has a larger local market versus the PRC special administrative zone

Average length of stay

As highlighted above, the number of tourist arrivals in Macau is much higher than in Singapore (at 22.9 million versus 10.1 million). But the average length of stay in Macau is around 1.4 days versus 3.5 days in Singapore. Therefore, the total tourist days in Macau is 32 million days versus Singapore at 35 million days.

Macau has been unsuccessful at extending the average length of stay as it lacked entertainment options. Yet, this has improved slightly since the opening of casino-resorts such as The Venetian, MGM and City of Dreams. Still, Singapore has its advantage as there are many other reasons to visit the island-state as a tourist, apart from the upcoming casinos. The huge number of business visitors also creates another potential captive market for the integrated resorts.

The Singapore Tourist Board aims to boost tourists’ average length of stay per person from three days to 4.5 days. Based on our tourist-arrivals forecast, this implies 32.4-76.5 million days between 2008 and 2015. However, while tourists from further afield such as India, Europe and the US are likely to spend a longer time in Singapore, tourists from nearby countries such as Indonesia will still visit Singapore for a shorter period of time. We, therefore, believe the average length of stay will increase by a lesser amount than government forecasts of around four days.

Don’t forget the locals

More so than in most other gaming markets, local people will form an important regular traffic driver at casinos in the island-state. We expect population growth of about 3% over the next six years, driven by an 1.6% increase in local Singaporeans and 8% in foreign residents. Both of these estimates are in line with recent historical averages.