Macau, which overtook Las Vegas almost 20 years ago as the world’s biggest gambling hub, is now trying to become a major centre for healthcare tourism.<\/p>\n
The special administrative region of China saw the opening this week of a so-called resort hospital that provides luxury medical services, including health screening, advanced scans and cosmetic procedures. <\/p>\n
It suggests a Beijing-driven push for a more diversified economy has ramped up. <\/p>\n
Macau’s casinos were forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic as revenues plunged. While the city’s economy has since recovered, officials are working to re-direct it away from gambling and towards industries such as healthcare, technology and events.<\/p>\n
The region has long capitalised on its history as a gambling centre, drawing visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. <\/p>\n
The private healthcare group which is behind the medical resort, iRad Hospital, puts that figure at almost 40 million visitors a year. And it is hoping that the offer of healthcare services means people will stay longer and spend more. <\/p>\n
The facility will be located in Studio City, a Hollywood-themed casino and entertainment resort owned by a Hong Kong-based group. <\/p>\n
Macau’s gaming boom began in the early 2000s when authorities opened its gambling market to global casino operators, shortly after the former Portugese colony returned to Chinese control in 1999. <\/p>\n
Since overtaking Las Vegas in gambling earnings, Macau has struggled to expand its economy beyond entertainment. <\/p>\n
Gaming-related taxes still account for the majority of its government revenue.<\/p>\n
The pressure to diversify the economy is likely coming all the way from the top – during a visit in late 2024, Chinese leader Xi Jinping emphasised the need for “economic diversification” and “new industries with international competitiveness”.<\/p>\n
Unlike Hong Kong, which had a prominent pro-democracy movement that challenged Beijing’s rule, Macau has had a smoother relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. <\/p>\n
But that has changed recently, with observers citing greater evidence of Beijing’s attempts to rein in Macau – the most recent legislative polls saw a law turnout after several candidates were disqualified under a new law. <\/p>\n
One of the city’s biggest gambling tycoons was jailed for 18 years for organised crime<\/a> in early 2023, <\/a>among other charges. And a new security law kicked in a few months later<\/a>, targeting foreign interference and opposition to Beijing. <\/p>\n The flashy displays of wealth in the gambling hub, and its image as a playground for the rich, appear to have troubled the Party – especially as Xi sought to crack down on exactly that on the mainland, encouraging “common prosperity” instead. <\/p>\n That is also why Beijing has been pushing for the economy to move away from gambling. <\/p>\n Medical tourism appears to have emerged as a potential alternative, given Asia has been a major hub for it, with wealthy patients heading to South Korea for cosmetic surgeries and to Singapore for advanced treatments. <\/p>\n India too is a popular destination for medical tourists, offering cheaper treatments compared to Western countries.<\/p>\n The global medical tourism industry, which is worth tens of billions of dollars and is projected to grow significantly over the next decade, according to market estimates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macau, which overtook Las Vegas almost 20 years ago as the world’s biggest gambling hub, is now trying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-197021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}