Booming Economy Attractive to Australians
As Macao’s economy is witnessing a rapid development, many Australians saw “significant opportunities” in the Special Administrative Region (SAR), said Les Luck, Australian Consul-General Hong Kong and Macao, when delivering a speech at an Australian reception in the island city on May 22nd.
The Consul-General said he was impressed by the level of Australians’ engagement in Macao’s economy, working in fields ranging from the hospitality, gaming, construction, infrastructure, transportation and food and beverage sectors.
James Packer, Australia’s richest man, has set up a joint venture, Melco PBL Entertainment, with Lawrence Ho, son of Macao gaming magnate Stanley Ho, and has built the Crown Macao, a six-star casino resort. And a larger integrated casino resort project initiated by Melco PBL is under construction in the city at present.
In addition, statistics released by the Consulate-General show that between 2006 and 2007, Australia’s merchandise trade with the SAR was worth 632.2 million patacas ($79 million), and Australian’s direct exports to the SAR amounted to 565.1 million patacas ($70.6 million) while imports from Macao’s to 67.1 million patacas ($8.4 million).
“We estimate more than 2,000 Australians live in Macao and expect that number will continue to increase,” said Luck.
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