Macau Grand Prix: casinos cut sponsorship budget
Macau’s six gaming operators will commit MOP100m (US$12.46m) in sponsorship.
Macau.- The six casino operators in Macau will contribute sponsorship of MOP100m (US$12.46m) for the 71st Macau Grand Prix. That’s a decline of 16.67 per cent. This year’s event will take place over four days, from November 14 to 17 in contrast to last year’s two-weekend event.
According to local media, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Wynn Macau will pay MOP10m (US$1.3m) each, while the rest of the sponsors will provide MOP20m (US$2.5m) each.
The 71st Macau Grand Prix will feature seven races on a 6.2-kilometer track: Macau Grand Prix – FIA FR World Cup; Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup; Macau Guia Race – Kumho FIA TCR World Tour Event of Macau; Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 56th Edition; Greater Bay Area GT Cup (GT4); Macau Roadsport Challenge; and the Macau Roadsport – Macao SAR Establishment Cup. Some 180 racers from 35 countries will participate in the street circuit, surpassing the participation figures of 2019.
Tickets for this year’s Grand Prix went on sale today (October 23) at 10am. Prices range from MOP400 to MOP1,200. Last year’s edition attracted a record 145,000 spectators. The main race drew 36,000.
Over 70,000 discounted flight tickets booked in Q2
The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has reported that over 70,000 reservations for discounted flight tickets for international travellers were recorded in the second quarter following the Macau government’s allocation of MOP235m (US$29.36m) to boost overseas visitation. The tickets were distributed through partnerships with Air Macau and other airlines.
The MGTO provided the figures in response to a query from legislator Ngan Iek Hang about the government’s efforts to attract overseas tourists. Offers with Air included ticket discounts, buy one get one free offers and discounts on multi-destination tickets. Offers with other airlines included limited-time ticket promotions for international travellers departing from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, and North America.
The initiatives were part of a series of incentives to increase visits to the city. The budget was also used for offers on cross-border bus and ferry rides between Macau and Hong Kong, hotel accommodation, dining, entertainment and show tickets. As of the end of June, over 50,000 overseas visitors had taken advantage of the special offers.
According to preliminary data, Macau welcomed 25.94 million tourists in the first nine months of this year. That’s a rise of 30.2 per cent year-on-year and a rebound to 85.9 per cent of the pre-Covid volume in 2019. The count for international tourists reached nearly 1.68 million in the same period, reflecting a 95.2 per cent year-on-year rise but only recovering to 70.8 per cent of the figure from the corresponding period in 2019. In January, the director of the MGTO, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, stated that the city aimed to attract around 3 million foreign visitors this year.
