Macau has a special place in history, it must be noted that this special administrative region is the first and last European colony in China. Macau is on the Western side of the Pearl River Delta   near the Guangdong province in the north facing the South China Sea.

The Macau Special Administrative Region, also known as Macao, is a progressive place with industries in textile, electronics, toys, and not to mention that this region is a terrific tourist destination for people not just around Asia, but also the whole world.

Macau’s Economy

Macau’s economy is built around tourism and gambling. Some of the other notable industries in Macau include banking, textile, and other financial services. Most of these export-centric industries of Macau has garnered more than 50% of Macau’s GDP and about 70% of their governments earnings.

Macau is actually a founding member of the World Tourism Organization or the WTO. Macau has remained the foremost trade partner with more than 120 countries and regions, including the European Union (EU).

Even in this economy, Macau is regarded by the World Bank as a high income economy. In fact, Macau has registered about 31% increase in GDP year after year since 2007.

Tourism in Macau

The most notable part of Macau’seconomy is the tourism industry geared towards gaming. The WTO reported on 2006 that the region ranked 21st in the number of tourist, and 24th in the number of tourist receipts.

From a mere 9.1 million visitors in the year 2000, Macau’s tourism sky rocketed to 22 million in 2006. Since the handover, Macau has been getting about 50% visitors from mainland China and 30% from Hong Kong.

The success of Macau’s economy can also be attributed to the end of the gambling monopoly in 2002. This end of the monopoly started innovations like The Sands Macau, the largest casino in the world in terms of the number of tables available.

Diversity in Economy

Mighty the economy of Macau may be, there is still an Achilles heel that must be addressed. The fact that Macau is almost solely reliant on gaming and tourism to keep their economy afloat, when the influx of people stalls, it can be a big blow to the small economy of the region.

The government is well aware of this weakness, that is why they are pushing for economic diversification on all fronts. Since the closing of the Portuguese control of the region, the government of Macau has been spending on different industries and a fistful of foreign investment. This will surely help Macau in case of tourism slowdown.

Shining Beacon

In this dark economic times, Macau is like a shining lighthouse in a horrible night time storm. It is reassuring to know that despite of the economic crunch, there are still regions in the world that is thriving and flourishing no matter what.

Macau is a ray of hope. An inspiration that all countries can look up to. Macau is a region in Asia that is living proof of economic security in this trying times. Macau has proven that it is not just a one hit wonder. It is not just about tourism and gaming to keep the economy afloat. All countries should have economic diversification, and Macau is proof of this system.

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I have gone out on a limb with this posting. I decided to broaden my horizons and looked into the current global economic condition from a generalized viewpoint.

The worldwide recession has left some countries struggling to keep afloat their economy. Even some of the countries belonging to the G8 experience the current economic depression. Different measures are being undertaken to soften its impact however futile. The USA, for example, enacted a bill that would be a stimulus to help US companies get back on track. But despite the efforts, the future still looks bleak. The IMF-World Bank has already made moves and has been continuously looking for ways to help the world from totally collapsing and repeating history as what happened in the great depression. Now, another possibility being looked into – China.

China as Catalyst of World Economic Growth

China’s economy, according to IMF, expands slowly despite of the hard times hitting other countries. Though recovery would probably be on its full course starting 2010, China doesn’t show at least bit of slowing down when it comes to their economy.

One factor being looked into is the country’s large consumer base. China, currently, has a population of about 1.3 billion. Second is the spending initiatives taken by China. In 2008, in US alone, the spending initiatives made by China would amount to about 600 Billion. Its foreign exchange reserves amounts almost to two trillion. The country continuously buys American bonds and stocks. These go hand in hand with the policy stimulus being implemented by the Country.

Can China do it Alone?

Though it seems that China’s economy could help the rest of the world out of the current economic recession, China cannot do it alone according to Jim O’Neil, Goldman Sachs’ Global Economic Research Head. Their study shows that China experiences the least strain in terms of its economic financial condition. However, China also experiences setbacks. Reports indicated that about 20% of the country’s migrant workers left the country because the companies they were working for closed or were shut down and household incomes dramatically dropped – indications that there is really no safe place to seek solace in these hard economic times.

How will this affect the growth of the hospitality industry in the Asia region overall?

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Since 1868 in the Meiji era, economic growth for Japan has been on a steady upward trend. When the pre-war era Japan adopted the free market economy, it seems that there is no stopping the growth. The 60’s and the 80’s saw Japan going into what has been dubbed as an “economic miracle.” This growth after World War II is due to American investments and mainly to government economic interventionism. It was called a miracle because of the massive unemployment, inflation, and shortages in all areas of the country. The war essentially killed Japan economy. But they were able to climb up.

Today, Japan is obviously still an economic super power. Japan has the second largest stock exchange in Tokyo. Japan also has 3.6 million millionaires and is projected to go up by 10.7 million going into 2017. Imagine that. The question is; has the current economic depression affected Japan?

Yes it has.

Regardless of how many millionaires are in Japan, there is still a lot of belt tightening going on all over the country. In fact, Japan’s outbound travel is going down, and pundits are prognosticating that the worst is yet to come. The Japan Tourist Organization (JNTO) showed statistics that only 1,247,000 Japanese people went out of the country last January, dipping way down from the 1,451,116 recorded in 2007 of November. The Japan Economy Blog reported that overseas visitors to Japan have also been going down 18.4% in January, for sixth straight months of decline. The reason? The high cost of fuel surcharges that the airlines are putting on the customers.

The editorial in the Japan Times said that corporations have given up their sports clubs and sponsorship of events such as Formula 1 racing. Big companies, some very profitable, are scaling down their advertising budgets. People, even the most oblivious, are starting to notice the pinch. The economic downturn has been very stressful for the Japanese people that they rely heavily on alcohol and sleeping pills to sleep at night. Young women can no longer afford branded clothes, instead they just rent them.

Suicide is an all time high in Japan. According to reports in the editorial, 700,000 calls have been registered on the Japanese national suicide hotline.

The Japan economy blog reports that there are 1.4% fewer jobs in 2009 for graduate students. This is the first decline in job rate that Japan has to face in five years. 1.4% fewer jobs are laughable in the face of other country’s job rates, but you can’t laugh in solidarity with every country affected by the economic downturn.

The worry about job security and with the profitable companies cutting back on everything has infected the psyche of the Japanese people. Obviously, the economic downturn has not affected Japan that much compared to other countries, but still, the national consciousness of the people is dipping. Morale is very low. However the Japanese government is slowly realizing the perception problem.

Perhaps Prime Minister Taro Aso visiting the White House can learn inspirational leadership from President Barack Obama.

The unfortunate downturn has caused a lot of problems for any lofty goals this year. Major Asian economic behemoths are experiencing the painful pinch. Macau and Singapore has delayed some casino projects. China just lost a major hotel in a fire. In these trying times is there no end to the delayed and canceled projects in the next few years?

The answer is simple — No. Not yet, anyway.

The economy is not yet going up. It is still on a downward trend. The United States of America is already addressing its own financial problems by passing the Obama Economic Stimulus Bill. If this billion dollar endeavor succeeds or fails, the whole world economy will surely be affected.

In Australia, the 1980’s were the turning point for similar economic reforms. These reforms strengthened their GDP from 140,987 to 926,880. All this growth with an inflation index of 30 in the 80’s and 116 in 2005. This is surely a far cry from the horrid Australian depression of the 1930’s.

Australia has shown that it can climb back. With cooperative and hardy citizens, plus a government with political will, they were able to boost their economy and become one of the riches first world countries in the world.

Now, the world is changing rapidly again. And with change only the ones who can adapt will survive. Is Australia ready to claw her way back up in this new depression?

The hospitality industry in Australia has been growing stronger since the last Sydney Olympics of 2000. However, even giants can falter when a pebble gets stuck inside its shoe. Unemployment is the pebble in the shoe of Australia. In just a few months it has increased 4.5 percent, with about over 40,000 jobs lost to the ether. Economist Riki Polygenis said that full time employment is dropping, while part time jobs are taking their place. This is bad for economic growth.

The 4.5 percent unemployment rate is projected to increase to about 6 percent according to economists. However, the movements will be gradual in contrast to the United States unemployment rate. 6 percent is no laughing matter, but it is pretty diminutive compared to the unemployment rate of third world countries. Australia is still number 11 in the world in terms of employment.

Because of the economic uncertainty, much of the hospitality projects in Australia are subject to profitability testing and future viability tests. These studies will be carried out until the market improves. The managing director of Jones Lang of Lasalle hotels said that unless financing has been secured and construction imminent, proposed projects scheduled to open in 2010 and beyond is unlikely to materialize. There are currently 6,246 rooms in the development from across Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin. The problem is that some of these proposed constructions are yet to secure development funding.

The trend is clear. Although travel and tourism will not drop like an anvil this year for Australia, outbound travel is expected to fall 2.9% according to pundits. The reason is a weakening of the Australian dollar and an untrusting credit market.

As mentioned before, this is hardly a cause for major concern on the part of Australia. Compared to other countries whose economic wagons are barely hobbling along the Oregon Trail of depression, Australia is coasting on easy street.