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The Government is said to be assessing the impact of restrictions imposed by Guangdong authorities to its residents to apply for individual permits to Macau.

The Macao Daily News reported that government officers predicted that the effect of such restrictions will take two months to emerge at quickest.

Since the Individual Travelling Scheme was introduced in July 2003, the number of visitors to Macau has accumulated to 25.67 million, from 608,300 visitors, or 20.16% of the total number of visitors from mainland China in 2003, to 7.1652 million visitors in 2007, or 48.2% of the total number of visitors from the mainland.

The Government is said to be assessing how the gaming sector will react to the decision.

In terms of the development of the conference and exhibition sector as a means to diversify the economy, market operators pointed out that it may take eight years for Macau to develop it similar to the model as it current is in Las Vegas.

They said that the Government should not rely on individual casino operator to develop the conference and exhibition sector, and should fully support other operators to develop non-casino business.

Meanwhile, Globalysis predicted that Macau’s gaming revenue in 2008 will reach USD13.5 billion, an increase of 28.8% comparing to 2007, thanks to the support of mainland Chinese customers.

But the consulting firm also pointed out that travel permit restrictions and the US economic recession may be the negative factors that could affect Macau’s gaming revenue.

On the other hand, Fong Ka Chio (¶¾®a¶W) of the University of Macau predicted that the travel permit restrictions may result in a reduction of 7.5% of Macau’s gaming revenue this year.

He worried that the measures taken by both the Central and Macau Government to curb Macau’s gaming sector development will move the confidence of investors, with delays or even cancellations of existing projects.

He suggested the Government to monitor closely to the situation.

A Macao Daily News commentary pointed out that it is wise for the Government to intervene gaming sector development now, as there are ‘deep core problems’ that needs to be resolved as a result of its rapid development speed.

These problems include the conflicts between local and non-resident workers, whose ratio has already reached 2:1, affordable housing for the local population, long border-crossing time, and the elections of both the Chief Executive and the Legislative Assembly next year which will result in the formation of a new government.

The commentary also expressed worries that the ‘positive market intervention’ may affect Macau’s political ecology because of the enhancement of the ‘executive-led’ function.

Such enhancement may affect Macau to form a smaller government and encouraging civil political participation, the newspaper said.