A respected Macau scholar says protectionist policies aimed at supporting locals are in fact harming the government’s own efforts to grow the city’s international tourism appeal.
Professor Glenn McCartney, Acting Associate Dean, Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Macau, outlined his concerns over Macau’s policy of protectionism in an interview with Portuguese language publication Tribuna de Macau, stating that current government thinking is in fact holding the city back.
“Macau’s policies do not help to develop non-gambling elements,” he said. “Policies and procedures do not help – the way of thinking of many organizations, such as Tourism and Culture, has not changed. You need to start thinking about how we make policies in line with tourism objectives and how teams in different departments think in the same way.
“I would like to see more competition in terms of labor, especially with people from Macau. What we see today in the industry is that protectionism is doing harm to many areas as some non-gaming elements cannot grow as they need experts.
“It may at times require temporary import labor but these people cannot work because the law does not allow it. The events and conventions industry needs specialized people, especially the entertainment sector.
“Our policies need to change … until we do that, it will be difficult to move forward.”
McCartney pointed to two key areas of concern that he believes highlight the international tourism opportunities Macau is not taking advantage of. First is the fact that 65% of tourism traffic comes from mainland China.
“We are not an international destination,” McCartney stated.
Second is the fact that only 16 million of the 120 million outbound Chinese each year visit Macau – and many of them are repeat visitors, “Which means that we receive a very small share of a very large outbound market that go to cities with very few gaming elements, if they really have any.
“Why do you go to Paris, London, Sydney? It’s not about gaming. All these cities have managed to rise for reasons like retail, shopping, culture and we still have work to do. Even to penetrate into China, second and third-tier cities, you have to deliver the message that Macau has more things to offer.”
According to McCartney, it is time old protectionism policies are revisited so that Macau can use outside expertize to provide better tourism experiences.
“There is a history of protectionism [in Macau], also linked to associations,” he says. “I am neither against nor in favor, I simply see a certain moment in time when something must be applied or withdrawn.
“With the Cotai Strip there will be some kind of momentum, but some non-gaming elements have closed. It is difficult for the Cotai operators to present non-gaming because they will have to work in the negative [revenue] as a market has not been created. Where are the incentives to boost non-gaming?
“I am supportive of the idea of the master/apprentice, in which one person brings a lot of experience to teach several others.”
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