Hotel bookings are coming thick and fast for next month’s “golden week” holiday Inside Asian Gaming reports – citing research from Hong Kong brokerage firm CLSA. The term refers to the week of holidays that run from China’s National Day on 1 October.
According to CLSA, 82 percent of the 34 Macao hotels it tracks were already fully booked for the first weekend of October.
Galaxy and MGM China’s properties were the most popular: six out of Galaxy’s eight hotels and both MGM China’s properties have been fully booked for the upcoming October break since 1 June, CLSA noted.
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It added that hotel operators tended to set rooms aside in the lead up to peak periods. “More rooms will be released to the public over the coming weeks as operators gain more visibility on demand.”
CLSA also predicted that investor concerns over the government’s crackdown on illicit money exchanges happening at casinos were “likely overdone,” noting that August’s solid haul of gross gaming revenue (GGR) was a positive sign for the gaming industry.
Nevertheless, the firm has lowered its 2024 and 2025 GGR forecasts as a result of the crackdown. It now predicts this year’s takings will come in at US$28.4 billion, down from US$30.3 billion, and estimates next year’s total at US$29.6 billion.
