The second day of Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) 2023 took place at The Venetian Macao yesterday, with talks focusing on gaming in a post-pandemic “new world,” including a glimpse into the Asian gaming landscape a decade from now and a look the evolution of Macao’s non-gaming tourism sector.

Last held in 2019, G2E Asia is being staged in conjunction with the Asian IR Expo, which has convened stakeholders from the wider integrated resort sector, such as destination marketing organizations and travel companies.

Yesterday’s sessions included two-panel discussions moderated by gaming analyst and the managing director of 2NT8, Alidad Tash. The first looked at how key Asian gaming jurisdictions – from major players like Macao, Singapore and the Philippines to smaller centres such as  Malaysia and Cambodia – might be impacted by the potential development of gaming in Thailand, Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The second-panel discussion highlighted Macao’s transition to non-gaming tourism and the local government’s efforts to develop the health, finance, and technology sectors, as well as a large-scale convention and events industry, as part of its economic diversification strategy.  

The panelists in this session were Davis Fong, director of Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming and a tourism professor at the University of Macau; José Carlos Matias, director of Macau Business; and gaming consultant Niall Murray.

Among the issues raised in this discussion were labour, work permits and infrastructure, including the number of hotel rooms and the shortage of taxis in Macao.

Fong said specialist workers were urgently needed “I think the [local] government can help [Macao gaming] operators to introduce imported workers – for example to create a high-tech show, we don’t have any experts like that.”

The panelists agreed that the city’s existing work permit system needed to become more flexible if economic diversification was to be achieved.