Manpower Assessment and Needs for Macao as a 24-hour Tourism Destination

Commissioned by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao S.A.R. and conducted by the Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT), a study on manpower assessment and needs for Macao as a 24-hour tourism destination has been completed. In this survey, William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas was commissioned by IFT to participate in the information collection and analysis work. Since this survey was about the relation between manpower and social structure, the methodology consisted mainly of the collection of secondary and official data from Macao and Las Vegas and the analysis of such data. The study approach was to compare a set of important economic and social indicators between Macao and Las Vegas which is already a 24-hour tourism destination, in order to estimate the manpower requirements of Macao if the destination is to operate round-the-clock like Las Vegas. These indicators included but were not limited to residential population size, labour distribution by industries (please refer to the table for details), and visitor arrivals. Be it Macao or Las Vegas, a round-the-clock operation does not only require the participation of hotel and gambling sectors but also other sectors such as wholesale and retail, transportation and communication, education and health care, and public administration and social security. Therefore, this survey focused on these 5 major sectors and compared the current labour distribution and visitor arrivals between Macao and Las Vegas. The analysis was conducted based on a comparison of the ratios of employees to total visitors in the 5 major sectors between Macao and Las Vegas and the identification of differences in the ratios. Using this information along with Macao’s visitor arrival and workforce population in 2006, the study estimated that the required additional workforce for Macao if it is to develop to a 24-hour city like Las Vegas (but not necessarily adopting the same style). The results showed that, based on the ratio differences in the 5 sectors and the working population figure of Macao in 2006, Macao would need another 156,000 new workers to sustain the kind of round-the-clock operation as found in Las Vegas. This would be an extra 85% of the workforce in 2006. Among the 5 sectors, the hotel and gambling sector would have the highest demand of new blood, with an estimation of around 66,000, followed by wholesale and retail (about 33,000) and public administration and social security (about 30,500). In comparison, education and health care, and transportation and communication sectors (a combined total of 27,000) would demand relatively less. Nonetheless, these sectors are essential anywhere in the world and hence the priority and importance in getting extra manpower for these sectors is no less than for others. According to the estimation of economists and analysts, every direct vacancy in a major industry will have a multiplying effect of producing 1.5 indirect vacancies. As a conclusion, since Macao already received more than 27 million visitors in 2007 and is facing constraints in local population and labour supply, it is important that related departments consider and adopt effective population and foreign labour policy to prepare Macao in its transformation into a 24-hour tourism destination. For any comments and queries about this survey, please kindly contact the Institute For Tourism Studies.