Room boom at Macau casinos

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The Venetian Macao casino-hotel recently counted its 10 millionth visitor 169 days after opening, a sign of booming visitation to the Chinese gaming enclave of Macau. Hotel guests there totaled 5,739,734 in 2007, up nearly 23 percent over 2006.

Macau had 16,148 hotel rooms available at the end of 2007, 24 percent more than a year before. Occupancy last year averaged 77 percent, five percentage points above 2006, with the average stay rising slightly to 1.36 nights.

Mainland China provided 48 percent of guests in 2007, Hong Kong 26 percent. Hotel patrons amounted to 42 percent of total Macau tourists.

The Venetian Macao alone had 125,020 customers in one day during the recent Chinese New Year celebration, a record number. Its fully booked hotel saw average room rates of US$360, up from a city average of $222 the previous year.

“So much for the conventional wisdom that Asians will not pay top dollar for rooms under demand conditions,” said Bill Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the casino’s owner.