The Chinese government may launch a visa multi-entry visa between Macau and Hengqin for Chinese tour groups as soon as next month, a source familiar with the matter told AGB.

The non-gaming investment requirements for Macau gaming concessionaires are already reshaping the Special Administrative Region, according to industry experts interviewed by AGB.

The Artyzen Hotel brand, under gaming mogul Pansy Ho’s Shun Tak Group, opens the new Habitat Hengqin Zhuhai on Thursday, March 28th.

Build it, across the border, and they will come. Such is the story of Hengqin, whose recovery is outpacing its neighboring gambling hub Macau.

Even though the world's largest gaming hub Macau recovered strongly in the first half of the year, it still needs to catch up with neighboring Hengqin or Zhuhai, according to an industry insider.

Macau's gaming operators are having some very positive feedback from the non-gaming push. Morningstar Senior Equity Analyst Jennifer Song told AGB that at least two gaming operators in Macau recorded historical high daily earnings while holding concerts in their properties.

Hengqin is only 200 meters away from the world's biggest gaming hub Macau and was established in 2009 to help Macau diversify its economy by developing other industries. Now the area is stepping up its efforts for synergy with its neighbors, as luxury hotel brands move in and MICE facilities ramp up. 

China’s outbound tourists are expected to return to their favorite tourist destinations, and at pre-pandemic levels by Q3 or Q4 of 2022, according to James Liang, co-founder of China’s largest online travel agency, Trip .com Group.

Trip.com Group co-founder and chairman James Liang believes that Chinese international travelers will likely fall back into old travel habits and preferences once borders reopen. 

It feels like Macau’s Wild West. A stone’s throw away and yet a world apart, Hengqin Island has been buzzing with tourists since May 2020. If China’s government has its way, the island and the world’s largest gambling hub, will become an integrated tourism zone that will drive diversification of Macau’s economy. The operators are likely to play a key role.