Sports facility – IAG

Macau’s government listed sports tourism as a key area for license holders to focus on in the license bidding process in recent years, seen as a way to diversify the economy away from just gaming. But with SAR’s land shortage and lack of professional sports, how should Macau develop its sports tourism industry?

Sports tourism is not the same as local sports development. Although efforts are being made to gradually improve the development of local sports in Macau, the governments themselves are planning to build and expand facilities for integrated resorts in Macau to attract and host major global sporting events in an effort to promote sports tourism. This, in turn, provides more tourist attractions, satisfying governments’ desire for economic diversification.

Macau is actually very experienced in sports tourism, explains journalist and former table tennis player Ian Johnson.

Macau hosted the East Asian Games in 2005, Manchester United of the English Premier League visited for a friendly match in 2007, and in 2016 Macau also hosted the MMA World Championships.

After the liberalization of the gaming industry, the Macau government and concessionaires took the lead in developing sports tourism as a way to attract more visitors to Macau.

Macau’s six gaming licensees have significant financial resources and international connections, and have supported many major tournaments held in Macau, Johnson continues.

Some sports stars with huge followings have brought visitors to Macau and put the city’s name on the international map.

However, in reality, the status of sporting events organized in Macau has not risen to the same heights as many other neighboring countries for a long time, and certainly not since the COVID-19 pandemic. With the exception of the annual Macau Grand Prix, which continues to attract the world’s attention, it is evident that renewed attention needs to be paid to the opportunities offered by sports to strengthen the city’s tourism appeal.

Ryan Hong-Wai Ho, a lecturer at the Gaming and Tourism Research Center of Macao Polytechnic University, believes that commercial sports competitions can be an important resource for revitalizing Macau’s tourism industry.

Macau has often held various sports events, but our future strategy should be to raise the level of current events, Ho said.

He added that Macao should strive to organize high-level commercial sports competitions on a regular basis, rather than holding isolated or non-competitive sports events.

In addition to sponsors, game companies can also partner with international or local sports federations to organize various commercial sports events. Gaming companies can use their premises as competition venues, which also increases the opportunities for tourists to visit other recreational destinations in their holiday destination.

Although the Macao government listed sports tourism as a key focus area for Macau licensees in last year’s tender for new 10-year licenses, Johnson says the government must also do its part by formulating a clear direction for the development of sports tourism.

Not all sporting events are eligible for Macau and [it should be considered whether or not to hold] those that aren’t as popular and don’t generate financial benefits, he says.

The goal of developing sports tourism is to drive economic development, and this should be left to the market to decide. The board’s task is to coordinate, but not dictate, the entire development direction of sports tourism.

Some sporting events should be organized by private sector players who have a better understanding of whether those sporting events have a positive impact.

Ho has a similar view.

The government and game companies can focus primarily on the development of mainstream Asian sports such as table tennis, badminton, basketball and marathons in the current showrooms and exhibition spaces, he said. Such sporting events have a huge following in East and Southeast Asia.