LAST WORD 50
Sharon Singleton
Managing Editor, AGB
Surprise pockets of vaccination hope The gaming industry in Europe and the U.S. is gearing up for a busy schedule of live events in the next couple of months, although unfortunately Asia’s participation is likely to be limited.
W
hile these regions begin to open up, Sentosa. Both properties have had success in driving Asia has gone backwards, with many revenue from locals, embarking on staycation and countries seeing their worst spikes in other types of promotions. However, management concedes that revenue has Covid to date, prompting a new wave of lockdowns. Early success in handling the virus plateaued and further growth will need the tourists led to vaccine complacency in jurisdictions, such to come back. Another outlier is Cambodia. The country expects as Macau, Australia and New Zealand, which had availability but failed to mobilize their citizens. As to have reached herd immunity by the end of the year. a result, they lost a valuable window of opportunity However, even now it’s faring better than many of its to avoid further disruptions to lives and businesses more developed peers. As of the end of August, half of the population was fully vaccinated, with about 64 before the Delta wave took hold. Other developing nations, with large populations percent having received one dose, putting it second and sprawling geographies, have not yet been fortunate only to Singapore in the region. According to local operator enough to procure enough supply NagaCorp, the situation is even to provide mass protection. more impressive in the capital Most observers now don’t Phnom Penh. There the entire expect any significant resumption Most population is fully vaccinated, in international travel until next with the government beginning to year, with forecasts for recovery observers now provide booster shots for frontline for the casino industry pushed don’t expect workers. Phnom Penh is said to be back again. The scenario is very the most vaccinated capital in the different from the VIP-led V-shaped any significant world, according to advisory firm recovery that had been expected resumption in Mekong Strategic Partners. at the onset of the crisis. So far, that hasn’t helped Despite this, there are gliminternational travel NagaCorp, as it’s NagaWorld mers of hope, some of which may until next year. property has been shut down be surprising. since the beginning of March. It is Singapore, which started with a confident though that international zero tolerance policy for Covid, looks tourism to Cambodia will resume set to be the jurisdiction leading the way when it comes to opening its international from the fourth quarter and that there will be pent-up borders. After driving vaccination rates to more than demand to drive growth once the doors reopen. The Philippines, which has a much more challenging 80 percent of its population, it is now focusing more on living with the virus and monitoring the impact on task in rolling out vaccines to its more than 100 million the healthcare system, than on individual case counts. people, is also stepping up its efforts. The government As a result, it plans to begin opening borders to predicts it will reach herd immunity by February of low-risk countries from Sept. 8th for fully vaccinated next year. As a result, the gaming business will return travellers. It has split countries into four tiers, with to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, says Andrea Domingo, arrivals from those in Tier 1 only required to present a chair of regulator, the Philippine Amusement and negative nucleic acid test on arrival. These jurisdictions Gaming Corp. There is only one event on the calendar for Asia include most of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, this year and that’s G2E Asia in Macau in November. Macau and New Zealand. While no one is expecting the floodgates to Although they have the ability to hold live events, with open, any return of international visitors will be a zero cases in the territory, it seems highly unlikely that major plus for Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World international travellers would be able to attend.
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Asia Gaming Briefings | September 2021
