On a busy day at the Venetian Macao shopping mall, the river channel simulating Venice, Italy, disappeared early and the boatman shouting was replaced by a narrow white stage and balloons of different sizes. On the white stone bridge arched on the river, a set of camera equipment was set up. The people who originally flowed in the surrounding shops began to stop by the fence of the “river†because of curiosity...
A few hours later, Macau designer Nuno Luo Weijie will host his first fashion show in Macau. After graduating from Middlesex University and participating in several Shenzhen Fashion Weeks, Nuno brought his brand Nuno Lopes back to Macau for the first time.
Supporting him to "go home" is the Macau Sands Fashion Week organized by Las Vegas Sands Group Co., Ltd.
Although Sands Macau Fashion Week sounds a bit strange compared to the four major fashion weeks, it is actually its second appearance this year.
On October 19, 2017, the Sands Group held the 6-day Sands Macao Fashion Week for the first time on the Venetian Canal in Macau and the Parisian Champs Elysées in Macau with the smaller version of the Eiffel Tower in Macau. La Perla, the Italian luxury brand, made its debut in the Spring/Summer 2018 collection.
This year, the Sands Resort in Macau once again hosted the Sands Macau Fashion Week from October 18th to 24th, including the “Water Bridge Show†at the Venetian Shopping Mall Grand Canal and the “Boutique Fashion Show†at the Parisian Shopping Center. ", as well as other store offers and fashion shows.
This time, on the night before the official opening of Macau Fashion Week, Italian luxury brand Armani was invited to warm up for the fashion week.
“We always wanted to find more innovations in the opening show. Last year we invited La Perla, this year is working with Armani, and there may be other brands coming next year,†Las Vegas Sands Group Global Retail Business Executive Vice President David Sylvester told the interface reporter, “The Sands Macau Fashion Week will be a routine activity for us every year. We want to let everyone see the achievements that Macau has made in the fashion industry in recent years.â€
It can be said that Macao has achieved some achievements in fashion in recent years. With the completion of the Sands Group's Venetian hotels, four seasons of famous products, Parisian and other shopping centers, more and more luxury brands are beginning to be stationed in the Macau market.
“There are more than 850 brand stores in the Sands City of Macau, most of which are fashion brands. The mother doubts that we want to use Fashion Week as a promotion project. On the one hand, we hope that everyone will see the Macau Sands Resort in the fashion industry. Promoting, on the other hand, we also want to help local Macao designers in the fashion industry," added David Sylvester.
Just a few months before the opening of the Sands Macau Fashion Week, Macau also hosted an event called the Maritime Silk Road 2018 Macau International Fashion Week. The event lasted for eight days. The event covered more than a dozen local and international design brand release shows, fashion forums, charity show, children's show, charity auction, Asian fashion custom tour, etc., covering fashion release, public welfare, flash, Media, education, exhibitions, etc.
At the same time, there are some local Macao designers, such as Victor Lao, Gemma Hoi who boarded New York Fashion Week, He Ziying who established a clothing company in Shanghai, and so on.
These changes have brought Macau's true beginnings into contact with “fashionâ€.
After the red-hot travel in the gaming industry
In fact, as one of China's special administrative regions, Macau has been lost for too long in the label of “gambling cityâ€.
"If it is not because of the casino, Macau is only a small town in the eyes of most Chinese people. After the rounds of bombing of many Hong Kong movie stars such as Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, the various gambling kings, old players and behind-the-scenes behind the casinos in Macau. Boss and Young and Dangerous have become important image references for Macao people to recognize Macao. This is a passage written by Liu Zhaorui in the "Butterfly Change: The Gaming Industry Field Narration" published in 2017, and this is what most people mentioned in Macau's mind. The first impression that appeared.
As one of the world's three major casinos in Las Vegas, Monaco, Monte Carlo, the history of the Macau gaming industry can be traced back to 1847. In order to alleviate the financial crisis caused by the decrease in customs revenue at the time, the Portuguese and Portuguese governments began to legalize gambling methods such as “fansâ€, “闱†and “white pigeonsâ€. After the return of Macao in 1999, the gaming industry was officially reopened in 2002. With the mainland tourists in 2003, they can apply for “Hong Kong and Macau Free Travelâ€. The fascination of “Luck†is the Macau gaming industry in the 21st century. The development has made great contributions. In 2007 alone, Macau's gaming tax revenue reached 30.95 billion patacas, and the number of gambling-related industries reached 62,000.
Although this has driven the rapid growth of the Macao economy, it has also triggered a series of social problems.
Due to the low manpower requirements of the gaming industry but the high salary, the employment of SMEs has shifted to the gaming industry. In 2009, the proportion of employed persons in the secondary and tertiary industries in Macao reached 4:21, which was serious. Industry imbalance. SMEs lacking employment talents began to try to input a large amount of external labor, and this behavior caused dissatisfaction with the local labor force, which caused certain social conflicts in 2007 and 2010.
In addition, with the transparency of information and the speed of communication, the Macau gaming industry has begun to have more adverse effects on the education of ordinary communities and young people.
Therefore, in recent years, Macao has begun to find new outlets in other industries.
“The plan to build Macau into a world tourism and leisure center was officially put forward in 2008. This positioning is also reflected in the national “Twelfth Five-Year Planâ€. With the strong support of the central government, Macao is also actively making its own efforts.†Macau Wen Haohua, director of the Tourism Bureau of the SAR Government, said in an interview with a reporter from China Radio International.
As a witness to the development and changes of Macao in recent years, David Sylvester is more empathetic. In his memory, in 2005, in addition to the entertainment district of the city center, Macau is also a wasteland after reclamation.
And even in the center of the city, there is no big retail facility.
“Macau is a small place. Its old city is mainly street shops. The only large shopping mall is the Wynn Hotel, which covers an area of ​​1,600 square meters.†Leifang Director and Greater China Research and Consulting Department Director Ji Yanxun introduced the interface reporter. Most of these street shops are located near the Ruins of St. Paul and other tourist areas. They are only two or three stories high. They are separate shop models for clothing, medicine and daily necessities.
"Macau's population is only over 500,000, which may not be as large as the population of a district in the mainland. Therefore, their neighbourhood relationship is relatively simple, and the demand for large shopping malls is not strong." Ji Yanxun added. In his view, Macao people maintain their own unique living environment, which is very similar to the lifestyle of people in Guangdong. Because of the richness of products, they do not need to hoard a lot of consumer goods every day. Some street shops may be more than needed. Shopping centers that spend a day visiting are more popular.
Increase in middle class tourists
However, after the Macau gaming industry drove the rapid development of the local tourism industry, Macao's original business environment also quietly changed.
The first thing that contributed to this change was the completion of the Sands Resort. In 2007, Las Vegas Sands Group's first commercial project in Macau, the Venetian Macao Resort was officially completed. The Venetian, which integrates 3,000 rooms, exhibition venues, shopping malls, and competitions and performances, has become a pioneer in leading Macao on the road to transformation. Then, the emergence of the Four Seasons Store, Sands Plaza and the Parisians officially opened in 2016 pushed Macau's tourism and entertainment industry to a climax.
According to a report released by the Macau Government Tourist Office in January this year, the number of Macao visitors reached more than 32.6 million in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 5.4%. Among them, the number of mainland tourists exceeded 20 million, an increase of 8.5%; and the international passenger volume also recorded a growth rate of 6.2%, setting a record high. At the same time, there were more than 17.2 million overnight visitors in 2017, accounting for 52.9% of visitors to Australia.
As tourists increase, so does the demand for consumption. With the improvement of supporting facilities in the resort, the visitor to Macau has also begun to change from a single gambler to a holiday family, which has also brought about changes in consumption growth. "Women's Daily" once reported in the report that after a big victory in the VIP baccarat table a few years ago, most male tourists would choose to spend a lot of money to buy watches and other luxury items.
However, in recent years, with the increase of middle-class tourists, performance, eating and sightseeing have become an important support point for the non-gaming industry in Macau. The reason for this is also related to the government's restrictions on the number of gaming tables. Operators in the gaming industry have to quickly increase the attractiveness of their non-gambling industry to tourists.
“If we want to maintain our business advantage, we must constantly innovate. Our new store is growing at a rate of 100 to 200 per year. We must ensure that our development can keep up with the latest industry, in terms of brand and creativity. Serving today's millennials," David Sylvester told the interface reporter.
In addition, the new resort is also trying to drive more spending through international exhibitions, performances and celebrations. For example, there is a Parisian theater in the Parisian shopping center. The theater regularly hosts visual and cultural performances such as “Dream Parisâ€, and the Venetian has also hosted the “Oscar†award ceremony for Indian films. .
In Hong Kong, which has a special administrative region with Macao, the situation is slightly different, and its consumption power seems to be more natural.
After the return of Hong Kong in 1997, it was established as China's largest free trade port. This free competition system has enabled it to develop better. In 2016, more than 42 million mainland visitors to Hong Kong, accounting for about 75% of the total number of visitors, played a positive role in Hong Kong's consumption.
At the same time, it is the main destination of China's foreign direct investment. As of 2016, the mainland's direct investment in Hong Kong accounted for 57.5% of total foreign direct investment. The investment field is mainly concentrated in Hong Kong's advantageous service industries, including leasing and business services, finance, wholesale and retail. This further strengthens the status of Hong Kong's international financial center and expands it into a shipping center and trade center.
In addition, as a gathering place for Chinese and Western cultures, Hong Kong's immigration acceptance is high and social inclusion is strong. The comprehensive and in-depth integration with the Mainland is not only limited to the linkages between the economy and the financial sector, but also the exchanges in infrastructure, innovation and technology.
Macau Hong Kong?
Indeed, it is still not easy to want Macau to be in line with Hong Kong.
As a special administrative region that implements the policy of one country, two systems at the same time, Macao and Hong Kong actually have a big gap. From 2017 GDP data alone, Hong Kong achieved GDP of RMB 23,049.14 billion in 2017, a growth rate of 3.7%, ranking first in the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau Dawan District, while Macau's economic growth rate reached 10.9%, but GDP only It reached 310.2 billion yuan and ranked 8th in the Greater Bay Area of ​​Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
“The business environment between Macau and Hong Kong is different.†Ji Yanxun emphasized in an interview with the interface reporter. Compared to Hong Kong, the commercial atmosphere of the entire city of Macau is more localized. As an international financial center, Hong Kong has a more diverse industrial route including finance, tourism, logistics, etc. These industries often introduce a large number of international talents to Hong Kong, and in order to cater to the needs of different types of people, Hong Kong is It is difficult to maintain a relatively occluded local community in terms of housing, lifestyle or business environment. This has caused the impact of foreign culture in Hong Kong to be much greater than that of Macau. Many small shops will gradually become larger. The shopping center is annexed.
Macau Street Shop
However, Macau is different. Despite the macro-control of the Macao government and the investment of foreign-invested enterprises in Macao in recent years, the city has begun to shift from a single gaming industry to other industries such as entertainment and fashion, but it will also be short-term. Can not get rid of the impact of the gaming industry. Ji Yanxun also said that although Macau has many cultural heritages, many tourist attractions can be completed in one day because of the small size of the city. Natural tourism alone cannot attract tourists to stay or spend in Macau for a long time.
The population of Macao has determined that it is difficult for the city to develop completely independent industries such as finance and logistics. Therefore, even in the case of industrial transfer, Macao will continue to develop non-gaming resort industry in the short-term.
In addition, the traffic environment in Macau also determines that it cannot do business along the route like Hong Kong. "The pattern of Macao can only be regarded as a small and medium-sized city. There is no subway or railway line. The only light rail line is still under construction. This determines that it will not have a development model for building commercial centers along the traffic. In Hong Kong, there is a large shopping mall outside almost every subway station," said Ji Yanxun.
However, he did not completely deny the possibility of Macao's "Hong Kongization" in the future.
On October 24, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which lasted for 9 years, was officially opened to traffic, which shortened the distance between Macao, Hong Kong and Zhuhai to one hour, which may further promote Macau's future transportation links. Tourism, and with the increase in the number of visitors to Macau, the city's consumer groups will also become more diverse.
According to the news of the real estate investment company Jones Lang LaSalle, Macau will launch a large Lisbon Palace worth nearly US$5 billion in the second half of 2019, and use 90% of the resort's space for non-gaming facilities. At the same time, Sands China The Londoners will also initially plan to open in 2020.
The "gambling city" that once had a sizzle in the movie screen may have found a new course.
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