Inside Asian Gaming

33 Swine Flu In the first half of 2003, arrivals to Macau by ferry dipped by more than 40%compared to the fourth quarter of 2002. According to Jane’s Airport Review, passenger traffic at Macau International Airport fell by 30% in the same period, down from 4.17 million in 2002 to 2.89 million. Aircraft movements were 13% lower at 2,996. “Going back in recent history and looking at SARS, the practical threat from something like swine flu is that people simply stop travelling,” says Ciarán Carruthers, Chief Operating Officer of Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino on the Macau peninsula. “A fall in head count would be a major consequence for all operators,” he adds. Galaxy leads Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) has been at the forefront of Macau’s measured but active response to the global pandemic alert. The company says it already had an action plan ready to implement even before the Macau government gave advice on recommended measures to combat the swine flu threat. “It comes down to three principles—education, communication and action,” says Bob Drake, Group Chief Financial Officer for GEG. “We’re educating everyone including our employees to acquaint them with the facts—how we minimise risk and how we protect everyone. We communicate these key messages through meetings, memos, videos and all kinds of media to make sure we’re getting the message across to everyone including our customers. Finallywe need action. It’s about putting a plan of action together and reinforcing the message,” explains Mr Drake. “We’ve been very proactive at Galaxy,”addsMr Carruthers.“Within 24 hours of this becoming a global issue, we put a task force together and started disseminating information to our staff on a daily basis. We immediately instituted a temperature check of all the employees coming into the property. That’s an ongoing policy. We dramatically increased staff presence in all public areas of our properties in terms of housekeeping. We have constant cleaning of all high traffic areas such as the buttons on the lifts and the handles on doors and the edges of any tables and chairs. I believe that’s also the case in all the properties in Macau,” he adds. So far it appears that swine flu—though of great concern to the international medical authorities—is not the aggressive killer that SARS proved to be. Nonetheless, were any kind of panic to set in among the public over the disease it could have as negative an effect on the tourism and gaming industries in Macau as SARS, suggests Mr Carruthers. Don’t panic “We want to ensure by our proactive management that we protect our staff and customers and that we prevent any sense of panic,” explains Mr Carruthers. “There are small things we can do that can potentially make a big difference, such as providing gloves for our valet drivers and ensuring everyone has access to hand sanitisers when they’re coming into a public area or an office area. “We took measures ahead of any advice from the Macau government, though I’d like to stress that we have been in constant communication with the Health Bureau, the tourism crisis hotline and the [gaming] regulators, the DICJ, from day one,” he adds. Macau’s Health Bureau has been active in giving advice to all six casino concessionaires on how best to manage their properties to minimise the risk of any outbreak or the transmission of any infection. The Bureau has also organised awareness sessions about H1N1 for the general public at health centres around the territory. Government support “The DICJ recently organised a very useful seminar where they got all six concession holders and their respective representatives together in a room with the senior people from “000VISTOR MO: Visitor Arrivals: by Sea YoY Growth 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% -20% -40% -60% Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 - DSEC/ Morgan Stanley Research