Macau Continues to Grow in 2015

Fireworks - Macau Tower

For such a compact city, Macau is showing plenty of muscle when it comes to growth as a vital Asian centre for the MICE market.

And by judging the number of construction cranes to “decorate” the Cotai district between Taipa and Coloane islands, this growth is overwhelming - much to celebrate.

Since its establishment as a Special Administrative Region 15 years ago, the former Portuguese enclave has seen the rise of a vast number of contemporary additions - without losing sight of its five fascinating centuries of Chinese-European history.

Two plush international hotels – Crowne Plaza and Harbourview Hotel – are the latest additions on the peninsula along with a contemporary all-you-can-eat Tromba Rija Portuguese restaurant, housed in the 338 metre-high Macau Tower.

By the end of 2015, the popular Asian centre's Cotai area would have also seen the opening of the highly anticipated $US3.2 billion Hollywood-inspired Studio City, to be promoted in a new short film starring three Hollywood legends Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt.

Nearby, Galaxy Macau will be extended to include three new international hotels – a 250-room all-suite Ritz-Carlton and Asia's largest JW Marriott with over 1000 rooms and Broadway Hotel with a further 320 rooms. They will add to the already existing Banyan Tree Macau, Hotel Okura Macau and Galaxy Hotel.

To complement the additional hotels, a new vibrant street, aptly named Broadway, will open complete with hawker style stores, bars and restaurants, live entertainment and world class performances inside a 3000-seat Broadway Theatre. Broadway is expected to open in late May, 2015.

Also due to open at the end of the year is the Parisian which will feature a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower, complete with observation deck and 200-seat restaurant.

With such exciting additions, it's significant that the giant guide book publisher Lonely Planet would rank Macau among the Top 10 regions in the world to explore in 2015.

“Macau has seen a huge boom in recent years,” wrote Lonely Planet author Megan Eaves.

“Where else in the world can you make an incense offering at an ancient Chinese Buddhist temple in the morning, take the world's highest bungee jump in the afternoon, have a Michelin-starred meal in the evening topped off with a bottle of Portuguese vino, don your finest for a glitzy show and then pull up a plastic stool for some Chinese street food as a midnight snack?” she wrote.

In writing her review, Ms Eaves drew a list of “life-changing experiences” such as exploring the back streets of Macau's UNESCO World Heritage old town – “a mix of Portuguese and Chinese architecture found nowhere else on Earth”.

The prestigious Forbes Travel Guide also recognised Macau as the number destination in the world for five-star properties (hotels, restaurants and day spas).

Four restaurants – Belon (Banyan Tree Macau), Il Teatro (Wynn Macau), Tenmasa (Altira Macau) and Vida Rica (Mandarin Oriental Macau) - and an international hotel – Conrad Macao - brought to tally to an impressive 23.

In recent days the Macau Government Tourist Office expanded its Step Out, Macau program of suggested self-guided community walks by doubling the number to eight. Slight changes were also be made to the prebvious four routes, all available on a special App downloaded by Smart Phone users.

Look beyond 2015, and Macau can prepare for more change – with tens of thousands of additional hotel rooms to accommodate the growing leisure, business and MICE markets.

As construction continues on the ambitious 29.5km Hong Kong-Zuhai-Macau Bridge, due to open at the end of 2016, ground has been broken in a number of other hot spots on the Cotai Strip, reclaimed land linking the islands of Taipa and Coloane and home to the City of Dreams, Sands (The Venetian included) and the Galaxy.

MGM is celebrating a new and exciting chapter in the company's history with the breaking of ground on yet another Cotai project – a contemporary precinct which will include 1600 hotel rooms. It is expected to open in early to mid-2016.

Wynn Resorts has a 1700-room entertainment and hotel complex, also to open in 2016.

Of another giant magnitude will be the construction of a French Versailles-like Lisboa Palace, a project valued in excess of $AUD4.5 billion complete with three hotels including a Palazzo Versace and another designed by Karl Lagerfeld, the chief designer for the Chanel and Fendi fashion houses. This project is expected to be completed in 2017.

Details: Macau Government Tourist Office, phone (02) 9264 1488, or check out www.macautourism.gov.mo