Casino revenues may hit $7B – AIG
The country’s tourism and gaming industry has the potential to generate revenues by over a hundred percent in the next few years.
According to global insurer and financial institution AIG, casino revenues could reach $7 billion by 2020. Last year, it amounted to just $2.5 billion.
Lance Ewing, AIG Global head for the Hospitality and Leisure Practice Group said that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. bets that total casino revenues could rise to $7 billion by 2020.
JP Morgan Securities Asia Pacific’s conservative estimate was $4.5 billion by 2018, while Macquarie Research sees revenues growing by $4.8 billion.
“Credit Suisse forecasts the Philippine casinos to generate gaming revenue of $6 billion by 2018,” Ewing said in a recent forum in Makati City.
Last year, casino revenues in Singapore amounted to $ 6 billion, Las Vegas reported earnings $ 11 billion, while Macau stated that casino earnings zoomed to $44 billion.
Foreign tourist arrivals are forecast to hit 7.6 million by 2018 from 4.8 million last year, according to the Department of Tourism.
However, the AIG risk management and entertainment expert warned that targets and forecasts would go to naught if the country’s infrastructure fails to catch up with the demand.
“Getting the tourists, the gamers to those resorts, to the hotels, to the entertainment places faster, means the more dollars they are going to spend,” Ewing pointed out.
And then making sure that they enjoy their stay, and feel secure with the services, facilities, is another challenge.
In Macau and Las Vegas, the owners went as far as chartering buses and helicopters to ensure unhampered and swift arrivals.
Operators of gaming, entertainment and hotels must likewise be protected from unfortunate incidents from complaints of bed bugs to delays in the supply chain due to natural disasters, not to mention terrorism and pandemic threats.
“Issues like the impact on the supply chain as seen in the Thailand and Indonesia catastrophes to issues in loss of luggage or medical evacuation, the AIG has the expertise to address this issues,” Ewing said.
But beyond insurance, the AIG executive also pointed out the importance of raising awareness and providing knowledge to the tourism, gaming and entertainment industry, including the government agencies.
“The Philippines as the golden child of the global tourism industry, it has a lot of potentials, but government, the industry players and the insurance industry need to patiently work together,” he added.