Global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has suggested that Chinese tourists are likely to have an important role in Japan’s nascent casino industry.
The comments were included in a company report about the potential of integrated resorts (IR) in Japan, “Growth of inbound tourism has been targeted by the Japanese government as one of a number of measures to ensure stable economic growth, total visits in 2016 reached 24.04 million, well on its way to reaching the revised target of 30 million by 2020,”. (READ SO: ASIAN THINK-TANK WILL BOOST THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY BY AN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION)
The document added: “While almost all countries and regions of the world have shown strong inbound growth to Japan over the past five years, by far the largest nominal increase in visitor arrivals has been from China.” Official data show that mainland China has overtaken Taiwan and South Korea as the main source of visitors to Japan, with 6.37 million visits recorded in 2016, a 511 percent increase compared to 2011.
The JLL report said that “higher Chinese arrival numbers have been a huge windfall for various tourism, retail and entertainment operators given the Chinese tourists higher propensity to spend. This will be relevant to any integrated resort operators, given the diversified level of services provided such as accommodation, retail outlets, food and beverage and other entertainment services.”
Data from the Japan Tourism Agency show Chinese visitors outspent the average visitor to Japan in many key categories, namely shopping, accommodation, food and beverage services, transport and amusement services. (READ HERE: JAPAN WANTS CASINOS ONLY FOR FOREIGNERS)
For many regulated casino jurisdictions in Asia, mainland Chinese tourists are much-sought for their perceived interest in gambling. A number of investment analysts have previously noted that China’s domestic anti-corruption drive in the past few years, may have had the effect of displacing some high-stakes gambling to other jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region.
