A referral mechanism established by the Macau government in July encouraging sports organizations or individuals to refer potential projects to the city’s concessionaires for follow-up has only attracted a handful of applications so far.
The Director of Macau’s Sports Bureau, Pun Weng Kun, pointed, revealed Tuesday that the number of applications was in single digits, although the concept is still less than two months old.
“The projects [that have been submitted] have been analyzed by the government and handed over to the concessionaires,” he said. “There are different types of plans and the concessionaires will consider the impact of these activities on Macau as a whole, as well as future sustainable development of the [ideas].
Should concessionaires determine any of the ideas are worthy of being pursued, “these projects will be organized next year,” Pun added.
“I believe the six concessionaires and the government would like to choose some large-scale projects as the standard so as to attract more international tourists.”
As previously reported by IAG, the Cultural Affairs Bureau and Sports Bureau is assisting in collecting applications and referring them to concessionaires, who can consider them based on their own commercial considerations and project implementation directions.
Journalist and former table tennis player Ian Johnson told Inside Asian Gaming the success of the referral mechanism will be dependant on strong communication between the government and concessionaires. “I suggest that the government and the concessionaires hold communication meetings to explain the future development direction with the cultural and sports industries, otherwise the future proposals will not meet the requirements of the enterprises, which will affect the efficiency of cooperation,” he said.
Culture and sports are among the 11 non-gaming elements required to be performed by Macau’s concessionaires under the new 10-year concessions signed in December.
