18 DEPARTURES TRAVEL
18 DEPARTURES TRAVEL CHECKING IN Macau Ups the Ante The Book Lounge at the new Karl Lagerfeld hotel, modelled after the late designer’s private study at his Paris villa The Chinese gambling mecca is on a post-pandemic hot streak, now wooing revellers with a glittering cache of blockbuster new hotels. by Lee Cobaj FOR 12 CONSECUTIVE years prior to the pandemic, Macau pulled in more than double to five times the gaming revenue of Las Vegas – despite Las Vegas owning 50 per cent more casinos and receiving twice as many visitors as its Asian counterpart. But in 2020, the buck stopped with Covid. Macau slammed closed its doors, daily visitor numbers plummeted into the dozens, and casinos, along with their associated resorts, ground to a halt. No one would have hazarded to bet that it would be nearly 1,000 days before the border would reopen and visitors would be welcomed back. © THE KARL LAGERFELD
© RAFFLES AT GALAXY MACAU The show-stopping lobby of Raffles at Galaxy Macau is illuminated by a spectacular 15m-long crystal chandelier Three years of pandemic restrictions later, and less than a year into reopening, you might think that Macau would still be playing catch-up, but the former Portuguese colony is already back in the black, galloping ahead of every other gaming centre in the world, including Las Vegas – and with a burst of new luxury hotels to boot. “The pause was actually a good thing for hotels in Macau, as it gave everyone the opportunity to think about how the city could attract more international tourists,” Adrian Chan, the general manager of the freshly opened W Macau – Studio City (marriott.com), tells me over a lobster laksa and wok-fired wagyu dinner at its 40th-floor Cantonese restaurant Diva, which overlooks the gigantic figure-eight Ferris wheel fronting the massive Studio City complex which the W is now a part of. The push for international travellers has been encouraged by the Macau government’s latest gaming law, exempting five per cent of casinos’ gross gambling revenue from taxation if the money has been generated by foreign visitors (coming from outside China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). It’s a law that goes hand in hand with a government push to offer non-gaming activities leading to a flurry of new developments, including Studio City’s expansive MICE facilities, enormous family-friendly Fun Zone and gigantic indoor water park, which W guests have access to. “W hotels really resonate with younger, welltravelled clientele,” adds Chan. “Having a brand like W here will help attract this new type of traveller to Macau; travellers coming from places like Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, North America and Europe.” From the window of my Fabulous Suite, I can see five more hotels which have recently opened or will open later this year. There’s The Londoner (londonermacao.com), which Sands China unveiled in May, with David Beckham providing a star turn at the opening party having been tasked with “designing” two floors of the hotel’s suites. More permanent fixtures include a life-size Big Ben, red postboxes and a gastropub serving Mad Hatter-themed afternoon teas and Winston Churchill’s favourite tipples. Beyond, inside the domed and turreted Grand Lisboa Palace, is The Karl Lagerfeld (thekarllagerfeld.mo), which was opened by SJM Holdings in June, with Michelle Yeoh officiating – fresh from becoming the first Asian woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress. Comprising 271 eye- 19 DEPARTURES
