Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | November 2012 42 Insights The Importance of Food—Pan-Asian Style Festiva offers a wide selection of Asian delicacies at its buffet and also à la carte Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant is one of the most frequented restaurants at Galaxy Macau Xia Mian Guan evokes the atmosphere of 1930s Shanghai noodle parlors Yamazato restaurant at Galaxy Macau’s Hotel Okura Appetizers at Saffron Thai Restaurant within Galaxy Macau’s Banyan Tree Hotel High-end Korean fare at Myung Ga As marketing people, you’ve got to be immersed in the property, living and breathing it, and have your eyes and ears open to what people are responding to. This comes from both talking directly to customers, and getting feedback from our frontline staff. But we don’t just take customer feedback into consideration. We also look at what’s happeninginthebroadermarketplace.Travel in Asia is changing, and the consumption of travel is changing. So we not only look at the Macau market, but also at regional and global trends and changes. What are some important big-picture changes taking place across the region? Ms Tsai : For example, in China, the consumption and the method of using online channels for travel has changed drastically in the past 5-10 years. Previously, almost 80% of travelers made their travel plans in the offline space, and you could say the online space was not really effective. Now, online consumption has grown exponentially, and online media in China is being seen as a reliable, trustworthy medium. It is becoming an increasingly important channel for us. Ms Kendall: The digital and social media marketing team here is one of the best I’ve worked with. We have been doing many innovative things in the digital space to further engage with our customers. What are themainchallenges to running a marketing operation in Macau? Is getting good staff a problem? Ms Kendall : I was concerned coming to this market because I’d heard about the difficulties of getting staff. But the quality of