The Macau government announced on Tuesday that it will set up a “referral mechanism” to refer projects submitted by cultural and sports organizations, enterprises or individuals to the city’s concessionaires for follow-up.
“To promote the development of Macau’s moderate economic diversification and to actively encourage integrated resort and leisure enterprises (concessionaires) to support the development of Macau’s cultural and sporting industries, the government will establish a referral mechanism for cultural and sporting projects with immediate effect,” it said.
Cultural and sports organizations, enterprises or individuals in Macau can submit their projects to a designated mailbox, and the Cultural Affairs Bureau and Sports Bureau will assist in collecting and referring them to the concessionaires.
The government also revealed that after collecting these projects, concessionaires can consider them based on their own commercial considerations and project implementation directions.
The Bureau will assist in the referral of information from the applicant organizations, however concessionaires will be able to examine and reply of their own accord. If the information submitted by the organization does not meet the scope of this referral mechanism, no referral will be made.
Culture and sports are among the 11 non-gaming elements required to be performed by Macau’s concessionaires under their recently signed 10-year concessions. During the March 2023 quarter, the Government indicated that it had received a report on the planning of sports competitions to be held by each concessionaire.
Among the new sporting initiatives already announced are the SJM Macao Open golf tournament as part of the Asian Tour, the inaugural Macau Snooker Masters at Wynn Palace and a tennis exhibition featuring top 10 international stars called the MGM Macau Tennis Masters.
In terms of culture, the Chief Executive of Macau said in late May that he had received proposals from the six concessionaires for the revitalization of Macau and that six older areas selected for investment.