Third Macau Travel

I traveled Macau last weekend. It was the third time for me to go sightseeing in Macau, although I have visited Macau many times because of my relatives. By comparing my three times of travel experiences, we can see the change of Macau along the years.



Macau 20-21 Feb 2010

The first travel was in the Fall of 2005. It was the time just after the Historic Centre of Macau was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Although the monopoly system of gambling was ended in 2002, Macau still remained itself as a silent and simply island with long history.

The second travel was in the Fall of 2006. I saw the rapid change of Macau. Both the traditional and the advanced were fused at the island. We visited hundreds year buildings, ate local foods and entered casinos invested by foreign ventures. Only SANDS and Wynn were many enough to make waves in the gambling industry.

I stayed at Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16 Hotel, which was a five star hotel managed by a french venture. There have been many luxury hotels in Macau. The Venetian Resort is expanding its giant size, even through the pace was temporarily interrupted by Financial Tsunami.

Macau aims at becoming Las Vegas of Asia. The hardware is undoubtedly luxury enough, however, the service requires more improvement. The foreign ventures have brought a new mindset of gambling and traveling, which are not cheating as some local managers think but a fair trade between big earning and high class experience. Their customers are willing to spend gold on one throw but they expect high standard of service. The target is simply - make them happy - but the process is not easy.

The pace of Macau has accelerated and it should be more.