Infrastructure improvements are under way to improve the MICE experience in Macau, writes Shenée Tuck
Border crossing between Macau and Zhuhai
Several projects are under way that have the potential to vastly improve access and logistics for MICE groups visiting Macau, including plans for a 38km crossing between Hong Kong and Macau that promises improved access to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
After more than two decades on the drawing board, an engineering consortium, led by global firm Arup, was appointed in March to begin designing the bridge across the mouth of the Pearl River Delta. Conceived in the 1980s as a way of improving access for importers and exporters, the crossing is set to benefit tourism in the delta by linking the two SARs via Zhuhai, China.
Construction of the US$11.2 billion crossing, which starts in Hong Kong’s west near HKIA, is slated to begin in December and finish in 2015/16. Once the crossing is completed, the trip between Macau and HKIA could take less than 45 minutes, comparable to the Airport Express journey to Central, Hong Kong.
Improved access to one of the world’s busiest international airports is a boon for Macau’s emerging meetings sector.
Official statistics put last year’s MICE arrivals at more than 364,000, up 20.6 per cent. The number of tradeshow and exhibition attendees rose 76 per cent, thanks mainly to extra capacity at The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel.
Local tourism and MICE operators welcomed renewed development on the Hong Kong-Macau crossing in principle, agreeing anything that made Macau more accessible to regional and international visitors was positive.
Admittedly, though, the crossing’s completion is a long way off for a city striving to make a name among meeting planners now.
Venetian vice-president, conventions and exhibitions, Mr Wolfram Diener, said uncertainties about the road’s usability were yet to be answered. “The bridge is several years away and it is still not clear what types of vehicles will be allowed to use it.”
He believes the MICE segment stands to benefit from infrastructure projects in neighbouring locales, such as the high-speed rail link between Guangzhou and Zhuhai. More than 12 million visitors entered Macau via Zhuhai in 2008, averaging more than a million per month.
Although the railway does not reach Macau yet, Mr Diener is confident it will boost the city’s regional share of tradeshow and tradeshow-related business.
Within Macau, though, Mr Diener and others feel there are immediate infrastructure needs that have to be addressed.
Thankfully their pleas are not falling on deaf ears and a Transport Bureau has been established to consider the issues.
DOC DMC CEO, Mr Bruno Simões, said that if Macau hoped to position itself as a world-class destination, the top priority should be enhancing the passenger experience at its ferry terminals, which welcomed 8.8 million visitors in 2008. “The arrival experience at Macau’s ferry terminals is something you might expect from a third-world country,” he scoffed, referring to “messy” passenger movement, crude luggage collection and unappealing aesthetics.
Visitors who do not rely on private transfers also have to navigate its overstretched public transport network.
Public buses suffer extreme crowding throughout the day and there are taxi shortages at peak times, making it difficult to transport large numbers of tradeshow and convention participants.
To make it easier to get around Macau and Cotai, a light rail system, due to be completed by 2011, will connect meeting venues and tourist hotspots on Cotai and the peninsula.
Gary Grimmer and Company senior consultant, Mr Mike Williams, said the light rail system was a great way to transport MICE participants.
He added: “The light rail will help delegates get around…(and) connect conference facilities and hotels to other areas of the city.”
City of Dreams vice-president, hotel operations, Mr Paul Town, is upbeat about the light rail’s potential to conveniently transport passengers around Macau, and deliver visitors to the resort’s doors.
“We are confident about the access created by new roads around City of Dreams…(and) future projects such as the light rail, which pulls up right outside.
“Access to Cotai is very important because it is not on the way from anywhere – unless people arrive by container ship to Coloane (one of Macau’s two main islands),” he joked.
City of Dreams is the only integrated resort to open in Macau in 2009 (see Need to know). The property is targeting 30,000-plus guests per day and encompasses the five-star deluxe Crown Towers, rock ’n’ roll themed Hard Rock Hotel and the 800-room Grand Hyatt.
Where to next?
City of Dreams: targeting about 30,000 guests
each day
Transport
and support infrastructure is one thing, but with space tight in Macau
there is also a need for better urban planning and more land. The
strain on the city is already creating community and environmental
tensions.
Nearby Hengqin Island has been designated by Beijing
as a base for diversification of Macau’s economy, according to a report
published on macaunews.com. The island will be the site of a planned
143-hectare Ocean World-style theme park by Chime-Long Group that could
break ground as early as December. Completion of the park is expected
in 2012. Plans for the development include a convention centre, hotels
and residential buildings.
Hengqin Island is seen as a way to
expand Macau’s MICE and tourism infrastructure without the need for
further land reclamation projects.
|
