The hotel occupancy of MGM China will stay similar to last year’s for this coming Golden Week of National Day starting tomorrow, said the company’s CEO and executive director Grant Bowie. “Our occupancy is looking quite strong and positive, but we all understand now that these traditionally large holidays are not as busy as they were in the past because in Mainland China people are changing their holiday patterns,” Mr. Bowie told reporters on the sidelines of an MGM event yesterday. On Tuesday, MGM China offered nearly 6,000 job vacancies, including for both non-gaming and gaming positions, for its new property MGM Cotai. According to Mr. Bowie, the gaming company will also transfer some of its current employees to the new project from the company’s property on the Peninsula. He stressed that the company would prioritise the hiring of locals for its positions. “At this point in time [the plan] is to get as many people as possible from Macau, so we have no determination at this point in time about how many people we will need to bring in from offshore,” the MGM CEO claimed. MGM Cotai, a HKD24 billion (US$3.1 billion) project, is expected to open in the second quarter of 2017. The new property will offer approximately 1,500 new hotel rooms and suites to the territory. September gaming revenue consistent Commenting upon the city’s gaming revenue for this month, he predicted it would be reasonably consistent compared to August. In August, local casino revenue posted an increase of 1.1 per cent year-on-year, marking the first growth in 27 months. “We hope to see improvement year-on-year, particularly for the mass market,” Mr. Bowie said. Asked his opinion on the government’s intention to ban off-duty casino workers from entering gaming venues, the executive perceives education and offering special supports to be the correct solution for workers with gaming problems. “I’m not personally a supporter of banning gaming workers from entering casinos during non-working hours; I think this does not associate with gaming problems. I think it’s a social issue,” he said.
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Ongoing training The MGM Local Talent Continuing Education Series Kick Off Ceremony was held at the MGM Macau Grand Ballroom yesterday. During the ceremony, MGM presented three programmes for their employees for career advancement, with the objective of diversifying its employees’ skill sets. These programmes – Diploma in Gaming Management; Gaming Industry Occupational Quality Training; and MGM High School Diploma Programme -started this month. A total of 411 MGM employees joined the programmes, according to MGM. “We clearly see that these programmes can create an opportunistic advantage to ourselves,” Mr. Bowie said. To organise these programmes, MGM China has partnered with the Labour Affairs Bureau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau Federation of Trade Unions and Escola Secundária Luso-Chinesa de Luís Gonzaga Gomes.
