July 22, 2008The Global Human Rights Torch Relay was disrupted by Macau authorities on the weekend and five arrests were made, which were described as unwarranted by organizers.
The Global Human Rights Torch relay commenced in Athens on August 8 2007 to raise awareness of China’s human rights crimes in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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June 7, 2008Chan Meng Ieng, wife of imprisoned former Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) high-ranking official Ao Man Long was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the SAR’s Court of First Instance (TJB) Wednesday.
Chan along with three of Ao’s family members and three business associates were convicted of money laundering and bribery, according to the verdict. The trial of the case began in January this year.
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June 1, 2008In the first quarter of 2008, performance of the gaming sector continued to stay vibrant, with gross gaming revenue (excluding gratuities) soaring substantially by 61.8% in nominal terms compared with the same quarter of 2007, while total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose slightly by 4.3%; gross fixed capital formation dropped by 17.6% upon successive completion of large-scale construction projects, and exports of goods fell by 11.2%. Taking all relevant data together, GDP for the first quarter of 2008 expanded by 31.6% in real terms, higher than the 22.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In terms of major GDP components, private consumption expenditure in the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.6%, lower than the 9.7% growth in the previous quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 8.6%, while that abroad fell slightly by 1.7%, with the expenditure in Mainland China amounting to MOP 606 million.
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May 24, 2008Macao visitor arrivals totalled 2,488,697 in April 2008, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,482,367) and Southeast Asia (141,655) surged by 29.8% and 47.2% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (620,538) decreased by 18.5%. Same-day visitors accounted for 52.9% of the total arrivals, at 1,317,388.
The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which accounted for 59.6%, 24.9% and 5.7% of the total respectively. Among the Mainland visitors, 41.1% (609,221) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme.
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May 1, 2008Macau received 7.5 million visitors in the first quarter of 2008, which was a rise of 17.9 percent against the same period of 2007.
The number of visitors from mainland China was 4.38 million, which was a rise of 22.6 percent, while the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia rose 3.3 and 63.3 percent, respectively.
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April 25, 2008Macau’s financial health is solid although there are some risks that make the territory vulnerable to external shocks, according to US ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.
“Macau’s solid fiscal position has produced considerable public sector surpluses over the past five years and because it does not have any public debt that needs to be repaid, its budget surpluses are all saved,” said Steven Hess, senior credit analysts of Moody’s sovereign risk unit.
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March 29, 2008At the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, there were 44,743 paid employees engaged in the Macau Gaming Industry, up by 22.9% year-on-year. Analyzed by occupation, 30,486 were engaging in positions that are directly related to betting services, such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, dealers, betting service operators, etc., corresponding to a year-on-year growth of 34.5%; meanwhile, 5,341 were working as casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., down by 5.3% from a year earlier.
In December 2007, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in the Gaming Industry rose by 6.6% year-on-year to US$1,862. Average earnings for employees in positions that are directly related to betting services stood at US$1,867, up by 2.0% over December 2006. The average earnings for services and sales workers, including casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., increased by 10.9% to US$1,119.
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March 12, 2008Macau saw 388,796 visitor arrivals in package tours in January 2008, up by 22.8% from a year earlier. Visitors from Mainland China (282,506), Hong Kong (22,604) and Taiwan, China (18,079) recorded year-on-year growth of 21.4%, 13.2% and 5.8% respectively.
In January 2008, the number of Macao residents traveling in package tours rose by 27.7% year-on-year to 13,536. Mainland China, Japan and Thailand were the three most popular tour itineraries, which accounted for 55.2%, 17.6% and 7.5% of the total respectively.
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