June 9, 2010

Global Gaming Expo Asia (“G2E Asia”) 2010 begins yesterday. As one of Macau’s major gaming operators, Mr. Francis Lui, Vice Chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group (“GEG”) was invited by the organizer to be the featured speaker at this year’s Keynote Luncheon and discussed the topic of “Resort Destination – New Chapter for Macau’s Growth Story“. Mr. Lui shares with industry insiders and professionals from around the world his analysis and opinions on the outlook of Macau’s gaming industry. Drawing his conclusions on a number of favorable factors from Macau’s tourism sector, Mr. Lui is optimistic about Macau’s future development.

In sharing his view about Macau’s hotel, entertainment and gaming industry, Mr. Lui said that the support of the Central Government, Macau SAR Government and local community, along with the opening of the gaming industry and implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme, together with the superior growth in China economy, all these gave rise to the prosperity of Macau’s gaming industry. Mr. Lui believes that the VIP business is the key driver of Macau’s gaming revenue and is optimistic that the VIP segment will continue to grow alongside the thriving Chinese economy. He foresees the need to identify new customer segments, in order to capture the next wave of growth and turn Macau into a diversified resort destination. As the size of the middle class group will be further expanded in the coming years, it is clear that the middle class has the great potential purchasing power and becomes the dominant customer group. Mr. Lui believes China’s rising middle class is going to be the next major driving force of the Macau economy.

When Galaxy was busy planning for the next phase of our development, we conducted market research and arrived at the conclusion that when choosing a leisure holiday destination outside Greater China region, Chinese customers tend to prefer South East Asia due to the region’s proximity to China. It does not require long journeys and falls within the same time zone. South East Asia offers beautiful beaches and sunshine which attract Chinese customers for leisure travel. Our research indicated that Macau’s climate and geographical location are suitable for resort development. Therefore, when we designed our new property, we have taken into considerations on our customers’ preference and taste. We believe our plans for Cotai are also closely aligned to Macau’s vision to create a more balanced leisure and tourism industry in the SAR.

In order to develop Macau into an “International leisure and tourism destination”, government support in terms of labor and infrastructure is crucial. This and investments from gaming operators are the key to success in transforming Macau into a resort destination. Mr. Lui believes that the development of resort destination would help to diversify the economy and offer more non-gaming positions. Galaxy is committed to giving priority to the hiring of locals. We would welcome the SAR government’s assistance in providing more skilled and serviceoriented labor in order to drive the transformation. With the suitable type of labor in place, we are confident that we will be able to meet the evolving demand in tourism and leisure services. With the infrastructure development, we are hopeful that Macau would be a popular resort destination among the international visitors, in particular from North Asia, Hong Kong as well as mainland China.

Mr. Lui took the chance to share with the audience how Galaxy perceives the destination resort shall look like by introducing our new mega resort. Galaxy MacauTM aims to bring “World-Class, Asian Heart” service standards and product diversity to Macau. Offering world-class resort brands and facilities, “Galaxy MacauTM” hopes to give Macau a brand new leisure-resort that will attract different types of visitors to Macau. Mr. Lui has high expectations on this project and hopes to share this unique resort with the public in early 2011.