Macau, the world’s largest gambling hub, hopes to move from being a “tourism city” to a “business city,” according to the head of the Chinese city’s trade and investment promotion arm.
Speaking at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept. 8, Alex Che Weng Keong, president of the board of directors of the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute of the Macao SAR, cited an interesting role model: Las Vegas. The world’s other major gambling hub has shown a casino town can also become a “world-class venue…for business, exchange, conferences, and exhibitions,” Che said.
Gaming still accounts for roughly 45% of Macau’s GDP, and the industry supplies about 80% of the government’s tax revenue. The city’s new five-year plan—the third since Portugal returned Macau to Chinese rule in 1999, covering 2026 to 2030—commits some 130 billion patacas ($16.1 billion) to what Che called “emerging industries. The plan also hopes to have non-gaming industries contribute 60% of GDP by 2030.
Macau, one of China’s two special administrative regions alongside Hong Kong, keeps its own currency, legal system, and customs territory. For Che, Macau can now use that autonomy to attract “emerging industries” that need regulatory flexibility.
