Macau – Tougher visa controls on mainland Chinese visitors led Macau to post a 10 per cent fall in gaming revenue in the third quarter from the previous quarter, a media report said Monday.

The July-September figure of 25.98 billion patacas (3.25 billion dollars) was down from 28.88 billion patacas in the second quarter, the South China Morning Post said.

Data from the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed that while third quarter revenue rose by 27.76 per cent year-on-year, the pace of growth had slowed compared with the 54.6 per cent surge between January and June, reports MTSD.

This came after the Chinese authorities imposed tougher rules on its citizens travelling to Macau, a former Portuguese enclave which returned to Chinese sovereignty in December 1999.

The measures meant Chinese passport holders can only visit Macau once every three months compared with once every two weeks before June 1. Chinese passport holders working or travelling to Hong Kong also need a separate permit to visit Macau from September 1.

The forecast drop in revenue led Macau secretary for economy and finance Francis Tam to cut Macau’s predicted GDP growth this year from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.

Originally posted 2008-10-31 19:26:27.

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