Galaxy Entertainment Group has voiced optimism at the potential rebound of Macau visitation, after the group experienced “highly publicised periodic outbreaks of COVID-19” during the year’s third quarter.
The comments come as the group reports its third quarter performance, which demonstrated a 176 per cent year-on-year increase to $4.3bn (2020: $1.6bn), however this represents a 23 per cent drop from the same period two years earlier.
The group, which also provided an update on its ongoing developments, saw its Galaxy Macau take the lion’s share of revenue with $2.8bn, up 353 per cent, with StarWorld Macau rising 234 per cent YoY to $664m, and Broadway Macau securing a slight uptick to $14m (2020: $13m).
Furthermore, Galaxy also reported a significant adjusted EBITDA turnaround from one earlier, with the figure reaching $503m from a loss of $943m.
Lui Che Woo, GEG chair, explained: “I wish to take this opportunity to update you on the status of Macau and the performance of GEG in Q3 2021. During Q3 both Mainland China and Macau experienced highly publicized periodic outbreaks of COVID-19.
“As a result, selected travel restrictions were implemented during these periods which severely impacted Macau visitation and revenue. It is pleasing to note that once travel restrictions were lifted visitor arrivals quickly rebounded.
“This gives us confidence that there is pent up demand for leisure, tourism, travel within Mainland China. We would like to again acknowledge Macau Government for acting decisively to contain the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 including completing the mass testing of Macau’s residents. GEG has been very supportive of the government vaccination program by hosting both testing and vaccination facilities within our resorts.
“We are pleased to report that GEG has achieved a 92 per cent vaccination level for team members and we are working hard to achieve 95 per cent in the near future.”
On future projects, the firm explained: “Moving onto our development update, we continue to invest into Cotai Phases 3 and 4, which will support the ongoing economic development and industry diversification of Macau including the MICE market, particularly following the opening of the Galaxy International Convention Center.
Phase three includes Raffles at Galaxy Macau which features an approximate 450 all-suite tower and we wish to align the opening with prevailing market conditions in 2022. We intend to follow this with the opening of the GICC and Andaz Macau in anticipation of the recovery of the MICE and entertainment markets.
“We are also continuing to proceed with the construction of Cotai Phase 4, our next generation integrated resort, which will complete our ecosystem in Cotai. As you can see, we remain highly confident about the future of Macau where Cotai Phases 3 and 4 will support Macau’s vision of becoming a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.”
