Destination Asia - Flights and Tickets

"With talk swirling about a possible expansion into Asia since Virgin Blue's listing in December 2003, Godfrey surprised some delegates at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's Low Cost Airline Symposium when he failed to detail any plans for Macau. But Godfrey also coyly held out the possibility of other deals in the region. A question-and-answer session involving Godfrey and the head of Macau Airport, Chan Wai Leong, yielded little. This is despite the deal being openly known about for four months, and Macau Airport hinting during the week that a deal with Virgin was imminent. In an impromptu speech, Godfrey declined to detail his plans though he did mention that any airline could service 1 billion customers within a 1-hour flight of the territory. 'No one should expect us to sign Macau,' he said. 'There are other opportunities and other things that we are looking at."

Interior lighting used in the new Sand's Casino Hotel in Macau, China

COTCO Positioned for Growth in Surging LED Market with New Products, Factory Expansion; 2004 Revenue Increased by 10% with Roll-Out of Breakthrough LED, DORADO In Asia, COTCO was appointed as one of the LED component providers for the interior lighting used in the new Sand's Casino Hotel in Macau, China. COTCO LEDs were also installed on the rooftop of Philips Lighting headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. www.cotco.com.

Cheng Wen-Tang Film Series

Cheng Wen-Tang is one of the most promising young film makers in Taiwan. His work 'Somewhere over the Dreamland' in 2002 was awarded Best Movie at the Venice Film Festival's International Critics' Week, and Best Taiwan Film of the Year at the Golden Horse Awards. His mastery over cinematic arts was widely recognized when he was commissioned to make two controversial advertisements for the last Taiwan election The Cheng Wen-Tang Film Series will showcase 10 most representative works made between 1987 and 2004. The selection includes his first critical success in cinema 'Postcard'; the award-winning film in Venice 'Somewhere over the Dreamland' which depicts a unrequited and irrepressible love story among the aboriginal inhabitants of Taiwan, the Best Short Film in 2003 Golden Horse Awards 'Badu's Homework', and much more. Following Cheng's film-making portfolio in these 20 years, audience can trace his course of maturity and find out how his works stunned the international film industries. Dates: 17-28/1/2005 Venue: Small Auditorium Price: $40 source: Macau Cultural Center

16.67 million visitor to Macau in 2004

Last year, the tourism industry of Macau has achieved appreciable growth, with over 16.67 million visitor arrivals to Macau, a surge of 40% over 2003. Among the total visitor arrivals, 9.5 million are Mainland visitors, who accounted for 57% of total visitor arrivals and have recorded a significant growth of 66%. The further opening up of Mainland’s tourism markets has brought about a structural change to the tourism market of Macau, and the strong arrivals from the Mainland has made Mainland China the key source market for Macau. At present, over 30% of the total Mainlanders who visited Macau came under the Individual Visit Scheme. By the end of 2004, statistics show that arrivals from the Mainland on ‘Individual Visit Scheme’ exceeded 4 million since its launch on July 28 of 2003. source: mgto

Macau Investment and Macau Business

Macau Investment : "In Hongkong, we were early in identifying property, consumption, and Macau as important themes for 2004. The opening of the Macau gaming sector was largely ignored by investors for the first part of this year. Our underweight in Korea was predicated on our discomfort with the state of the consumer."

China Travel during the Spring Festival

ref: news.xinhuanet.com Enthusiasm for the usually marketable tours to Southeast Asian destinations has dampened significantly by the December 26 tsunami. Individuals looking to travel during the Spring Festival are ignoring Asian beach destinations and looking at skiing trips or tours to either Hong Kong or Macau. Many local travel companies said Hainan Island and countries not affected by the tsunami catastrophe are popular choices. 'Skiing tours to South Korea and Japan are selling well,' said Zhao Dexiang, general manager of the Shanghai International Travel Service. 'We've also designed more trips to Hong Kong and Macau, and booked 10 percent more air seats during the holiday,' Zhao said prices and trip durations are similar to Southeast Asian beach trips, the main reasons these places have become popular.

Greek Mythology Macau may bid for Singapore's first license

Greek Mythology (Macau) Entertainment Group Ltd., which runs a casino under a license held by Macau tycoon Stanley Ho, said it will submit a HK$5 billion ($642 million) bid to build Singapore's first casino. Greek Mythology, which opened its first Macau casino last month, said an average of 30,000 visitors a day have walked through its marbled entrance -- which features a 15-foot-high sculpture of the sea god Poseidon, a statue of Zeus hurling lightning bolts and walls lined with reliefs of scantily-clad women and Greek soldiers in chariots.

Vis-Min Travel & Lifestyle Show – International Visayas-Mindanao Travel, Tours, Leisure & Lifestyle Expo

:: from Manila Bulletin: March 4-6 at the SM Cebu City Trade Hall "The show aims to attract over 150 exhibitors from all over Asia and over 10,000 trade visitors and buyers in three days. The confirmed sponsors are Aboitiz Transport, Cebu Pacific, Department of Tourism (DoT), Enchanted Kingdom, Philippine Airlines, Plantation Bay Resort, Star Cruises, and the Province of Cebu. Some of the confirmed exhibitors include ATJ Travel, Abacus Distribution System, Adventure Tours, Amadeus Marketing, Avis Rent-A-Car, Badian Island Resort, Baron Travel, Bayview Park Hotel, Blue Horizons, Boracay Regency Beach Resort, Destinations Specialist, Grand Holidays, Macau Tourism, Maribago Wonderlanes, Northwest Airlines, Pan Pacific Travel, Panglao & Dauis Tourism Council, Singapore Tourism Board, Tambuli Resort, and Thai Airways."

10,000 Seats on AirAsia for FREE! R69.99 to Macau!

" To celebrate 3 years of flying, AirAsia, a low fare no frills airline in Asia is offering 10 000 seats for free!! All bookings must be made between 13th January – 20th January 2005, for travel from 21st February 2005 – 9th March 2005. Free seats and other special offers exclude airport taxes and fees, and are applicable for one way travel only. Special fares and free flights are available from Kuala Lumpur to: Macau - 69.99 Malaysian Rinngit one way All bookings must be made online at www.airasia.com."

I visited the Macau Sands Hotel Casino two weeks after it opened.

Gambling and the Law�: Casinos Coming to Asia: "I visited the Sands two weeks after it opened. It is a magnificent, western-style casino, which has been enormously successful by testing and, where necessary, disregarding accepted wisdom. For example, it was said that Asian gamblers would not play slot machines. The Sands installed a few video poker machines in a dark corner. The games have proven to be so popular that the casino has ordered hundreds more. How gambling will spread depends almost entirely upon the unique laws and politics of the region. Until recently, residents of mainland China could visit Macau only as part of a tour group. China now allows its residents to travel there independently, and the exit and entry point between Zhuhai and Macau has become one of the busiest border crossings in the world. A string of casinos is being built in Macau, intentionally designed to conjure up comparisons with the Las Vegas Strip. Laws will first have to be changed. For example, the traditional Macau casino was nothing more than a room with table games. It made sense to keep out minors at the door. But hotel casinos have restaurants, shows, and gamblers who bring their children. Tom Smock has told me that legislation is already pending to let minors enter the buildings. Steve Wynn forced another change in the law, when he refused to begin construction of his massive hotel-casino project until the Macau government allowed casinos to issue credit to players."

Worth $1.8 billion, including the Vegas and Macau casinos.....

Haaretz - Israel News - The richest Jew in the world owes it all to gambling Gambling isn't exactly the foundation of a traditional Jewish lifestyle, but the world's richest Jew owes his tremendous fortune to casinos. Sheldon Adelson, 71, is worth an estimated $15 billion, most of it invested in shares in Las Vegas Sands, after the company's red hot December initial public offering. Las Vegas Sands owns and operates a number of hotels, casinos and exposition halls in Las Vegas and on China's Macau Island. Adelson, an observant Jew and a major contributor to the Las Vegas Jewish Federation and Habad, is the chairman of LVS and its major shareholder. The company raised $690 million in the IPO, issuing shares at $29 that skyrocketed to $46.5 on their first day on the NYSE floor. This wasn't the first time Adelson made money in Vegas, and not from the city's all-pervasive slot machines. His first big cash cow was the 1995 sale of Comdex - a huge exhibition and conference center, off which Adelson pocketed $860 million. In early 2004, Forbes magazine estimated he was worth $1.8 billion, including the Vegas and Macau casinos.

Hong Kong - Macau - Zhuhai Bridge project making progress

Bridge project to be taken forward: "Bridge project to be taken forward Preparatory work for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project has been approved along with the continuation of studies on the feasibility of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. Both governments agreed to monitor closely the construction progress of the HK-Shenzhen Western Corridor with the objective of seeing through its opening by the second half of 2006. Discussion has already begun on the regulation of cross-boundary traffic following its opening. Both sides reviewed progress since the Seventh Plenary of the Joint Conference in August, and agreed on priority areas for the coming six months."

Dim Sum

ref: http://www.inspirasians.com/ "Dim Sum (which literally means 'touching your heart') are bite-size snacks popular among the Chinese population. The tradition of dim sum probably started in Guangdong and quickly spread to the rest of China. Today, there are numerous different kinds of regional 'dim sum' specialities, including, for example, Chiu Chow dumplings (distinguished by the inclusion of peanuts in the filling); Cantonese shrimp dumplings ('har gow') and Spring Rolls, etc. Dim sum typically comprises dumplings, steamed cakes and puddings, deep fried finger foods, sweet cakes........ the list is endless and still growing with today's innovative touches. Dim sum is usually consumed at breakfast or lunch rather than at dinner. A dim sum meal is incomplete unless accompanied by a pot of Chinese tea (usually pu'erh) which is why having dim sum is frequently referred to as going for 'yum cha' (or drinking tea). It has even been said that the tradition of having brunch in the West originated from the idea of 'yum cha' exported to the west by Chinese migrant workers in the 19th Century! A large number of dim sum chefs in China were trained by master chefs from a very young age. Dim sum recipes and techniques were passed down through the generations or from village to village. It is this 'artisanal' quality that we look for in a chef. "

Hiroshi Shimazaki

Articles: "'Capturing Cultrual Landscapes' by Debbie Berg Hiroshi Shimazaki is painting the world. All of it. He travels the globe, country by country, encountering the culture and splendour of each and bringing home with him to Lethbridge tiny mementos of what he finds in the form of exquisite sketches and studies. One can experience something of the essence of the many countries he has visited, such as Iran, Mexico, Ireland, Japan and many others, by simply viewing the paintings in the Shimazaki collection, which are the outcomes of these same small studies."

How Macau, since 1999, has transformed itself into a gateway to China.

RS1 English: "Last year, we ended the year with 11.8 million visitors so we are way above last year already, and comparatively, the ten months of this year, and last year’s ten months, we are about 45% up from the same period last year. Of course, the picture looks rosy, we are no trying to balance out the number of visitors, as well as the facilities that we have that can cater to everybody. We need in this short space of time to create different places, different events, as well as try to maintain as possible a very good quality to service so that people will continue to feel that they are comfortable coming to Macau. "