International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism

Administration, 15:78–102, 2014

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1525-6480 print/1525-6499 online
DOI: 10.1080/15256480.2014.872901

Macau’s Tourism Planning Approach and Its

Shortcomings: A Case Study

PENNY YIM KING WAN

Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau, China

FRANCISCO VIZEU PINHEIRO

Department of Creative Industries, University of Saint Joseph, Macau, China

This article examines the responsiveness of Macau’s tourism

planning approach in coping with the rapid urban changes and
economic boom that have mainly resulted from the liberalization
of the casino licensing system in 2002 and the implementation
of the Individual Visitation Scheme in 2003. The results indicate
that Macau’s traditional top-down and progrowth driven tourism
planning approach is not responsive enough to cope with these
fast-changing circumstances. The shortcomings of this approach
are identified, such as the lack of a clear vision of the city’s posi-
tion, the overconcentration of planning power in the hands of
a few senior government officials, an absence of planning laws
and detailed guidelines guiding developments, poor coordination
among government departments, and a lack of planning exper-
tise and knowledge. The article provides solutions for a more
sustainable tourism planning approach, including diversifying
Macau’s economy away from its casino industry to avoid one
particular economic sector holding too much bargaining power;
formulating a comprehensive set of consistent and transparent
planning missions, strategies, and detailed planning guidelines;
creating a task force to foster coordination among government
departments; and empower local citizens to participate in the
tourism planning process.

Received February 24, 2011; accepted August 29, 2011.

Address correspondence to Penny Yim King Wan, Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina
de Mong-Ha, Macao, China. E-mail: pennywan@yahoo.com

78
 Tourism Planning 79

KEYWORDS tourism planning approaches, casino, sustainable

development, Macau, China

INTRODUCTION

Tourism planning has undergone several paradigm shifts in the past as

it has evolved from a design-oriented discipline into a field that reflects
more inclusive and sustainable community-based strategies (Harrill & Potts,
2003). As C. M. Hall (2000, p. 33) argued, this planning paradigm shift has
taken place “in relation to the demands made upon [planners] by various
stakeholders and interests, the changing values of communities and soci-
ety, and the broader socio-economic-environmental context within which
planning occurs.” Poor planning that is unresponsive to societal demands
is often a result of the constraints imposed by existing socio-political and
economic circumstances such as the shortcomings of public administration
systems, political cultures, and a lack of developmental approaches (Tosun
& Timothy, 2001).
The society of Macau has experienced massive changes since 2002 as
a result of the liberalization of casino licensing and the implementation of
the Individual Visitation Scheme by the Chinese Government in 2003 that
allows many mainland Chinese to travel to Hong Kong and Macau with-
out joining group tours, and the increasing internationalization of Macau
as a tourism and gaming destination. Macau is traditionally famous for its
tourism industry and is ranked 23rd among the world’s top destinations
(World Tourism Organization, 2004). It is also commonly identified as “the
Las Vegas of Asia,” which is the only place in China where gambling is
legal. Since these changes were implemented, tourist numbers have doubled
from 11 million in 2002 to 21.7 million in 2009 (The Statistics and Census
Service, 2009a). Macau’s gaming revenue, which accounts for more than 80%
of government revenue, reached a record high of US$10.33 billion in 2007,
far exceeding the US$6.6 billion in takings on the Las Vegas strip (Gaming
Inspection and Coordination Bureau, 2008). This sudden growth has driven a
real estate boom and resulted in calls for more hotels, casinos, and all kinds
of entertainment facilities, which often pose a direct threat to other develop-
ment interests including heritage conservation and urban development (du
Cros, 2009). This pro-growth driven planning strategy has often led to certain
social and environmental issues being overlooked, resulting in negative atti-
tudes toward tourism among residents (Guia Lighthouse Protection Concern
Group, 2007; Institute for Tourism Studies, 2007).
It is against this background that this article examines the socio-
economic changes that have taken place in Macau and the development
challenges it has faced since 2002. The shortcomings of the tourism planning
approach taken in response to these changes and challenges are discussed.
80 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

The data is collected via secondary sources including official govern-

ment statistics and reports, the related urban and tourism planning polices
and guidelines, newspapers, and websites. Recommendations for a more
sustainable approach are then presented.

CHALLENGES OF TOURISM PLANNING IN MACAU

Macau is located on the southeastern coast of China to the west of the Pearl
River Delta. It has a total land area of 29.2 km2 including the peninsula of
Macau, Taipa, Coloane and the Cotai Strip (Figure 1). It has a total population
of about 544,200 (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008a). After 450 years as
a Portuguese settlement, Macau’s administration was handed over to China
on December 20, 1999. Table 1 summarizes the pattern of change in the
number and makeup of tourists visiting Macau from 2002 until the second

FIGURE 1 Map of Macau (color figure available online).

Source: Model exhibited by the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau of the Macau Government in
the Glass Pavilion in 2003–2004.
 TABLE 1 Patterns of Change in Macau (2002–2009)

2009 (up to
the 2nd
Macao statistics 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 quarter)∗

Area (sq. km) 26.8 27.3 27.5 28.2 28.6 29.2 29.2 29.2
Population (no.) 440,500 446,700 462,600 484,300 513,400 531,000 552,000 544,200
Nonresident workers 23,460 24,970 27,736 39,411 64,673 85,107 92,161 83,616
Population density (residents/sq. km) 16,436 16,362 16,823 17,173 17,952 18,198 18,900 18,370
No. of tourists per year (million) 11.53 11.89 16.67 18.71 21.99 27.00 7,419,400 14.19
No. of casinos 11 11 15 17 24 28 31 32
Gaming revenue (in billion US$) 2.76 3.57 5.15 5.73 7.05 10.33 13.73 7.69

81
Total retail space (sq. m) — — — — 28,000 — — 560,000
Macau Peninsula and Taipa — — — — 28,000 — — 170,000
Cotai — — — — — — — 390,000
Total no. of hotel rooms 8,869 9280 9,168 10,832 12,915 16152 16,928 34,800
Macao Peninsula and Taipa — — — — — — — 16,600
Cotai — — — — — — — 18,200
Green and leisure zones area (sq. m) — 5.99 6.00 No record 5.70 5.95 6.62 —
Macau Peninsula — 1.17 1.17 No record 0.88 0.96 0.96 —
Islands — 4.72 4.83 No record 4.82 4.80 5.67 —
Per capita green/leisure zones area (sq. m) — 13.5 13.0 No record 11.4 11.3 12.0 —
Sources: The Statistics and Census Service (2008b, 2008d, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c).
82 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

quarter of 2009. The number of tourists grew from 9.16 million in 2000 to
over 21.7 million in 2009 (The Statistics and Census Service, 2009a).
As a tourist city, Macau is famous for its gaming facilities and its rich
array of cultural heritage. The gaming industry currently accounts for over
50% of Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP), 19.5% of total employment,
and 80% of government revenue (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008b).
Its gaming revenues reached a record high of US$10.33 billion in 2007,
far exceeding the US$6.6 billion in takings on the Las Vegas strip (Gaming
Inspection and Coordination Bureau, 2008). The number of casino operators
in Macau increased from only one in 2002 to three (managed by six compa-
nies) in 2009, and the number of casinos jumped from only 11 to 32 over
the same period (up to June 2009; Gaming Inspection and Coordination
Bureau, 2009). The number of hotel rooms in the special administrative ter-
ritory almost doubled from only 8,869 in 2002 to 16,928 in 2008. At the
end of 2009, the figure will jump to 34,800 rooms (“Macau Wrests,” 2007a;
Table 1). Another 21,737 rooms are contemplated, including all proposed
projects with no specific completion date (Loi & Kim 2010). Due the inade-
quacy of Macau’s existing pool of skilled labor to meet the increased demand
in the casino and hotel sector, Macau has relied heavily on imported labor in
the recent past. Over 83,616 (up to the 2nd quarter of 2009) foreign workers
who are in urgent need of lodgings are now working in Macau (The Statistics
and Census Service, 2008c). Some have to stay in illegal accommodation. All
these recent developments have placed a significant strain on local tourism
planning and have revealed weaknesses in law enforcement in Macau.
The local development challenges facing planners also include the need
to protect World Heritage sites. In July 2005, the Historic Centre of Macau
was inscribed on the list of World Heritage sites maintained by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), mak-
ing it the 31st such site in China (Cultural Affairs Bureau, 2006). According
to the Cultural Affairs Bureau, a government organ, this heritage site “bears
a unique testimony to the first and longest-lasting encounter between the
West and China” (Cultural Affairs Bureau, 2006). Twenty-two monuments
and eight squares have been designated as part of this World Heritage (WH)
site. Squares and streets are included as part of the WH site because they rep-
resent the traditional design values of the Portuguese and also play a pivotal
role in linking the different monuments that together form the unique his-
toric central corridor of Macau (Figure 2). Because of the historic importance
of this site, the World Heritage Committee recommends that Macau “make
every effort to develop the management system so as to retain the exist-
ing structural and visual integrity, and to maintain the principal sightlines of
the nominated area within its contemporary setting” (World Heritage Centre,
2005, p. 14). The need to protect this WH site and to ensure the continuity of
the historical corridor in a gaming-driven economy represents a significant
challenge for local tourism planning. The conservation challenge presented
 Tourism Planning 83

FIGURE 2 The Historical Corridor of Macau (color figure available online).

Source: Cultural Affairs Bureau, 2008.
84 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

also lies in the fact that most of the WH site features are located on the Macau
Peninsula, where commercial and residential activities are concentrated.
When new casino-hotel developments are placed in the overall con-
text of development needs in Macau, other important development interests
may have to be sacrificed. Macau is perhaps one of the fastest changing
cities in the world. Local population density has jumped from 16,436/km2 to
18,636/km2 over the 2002–2009 period, making it one of the most densely
populated areas in the world. Given the limited land resources available
(29.2 km2 ), many public facilities and much land have to be given up for
casino, real estate, and tourism projects. The effects of this economic focus
include the loss of green and leisure zone areas on the Macau Peninsula,
which have fallen from 1.17 km2 in 2003 to 0.96 km2 in 2008, and a reduc-
tion in the per capita green/leisure area from 13.5 m2 in 2002 to 12 m2
in 2008. Furthermore, a number of new residential and commercial build-
ings that have recently been completed or are now under construction have
affected the visual integrity of the historic centre; the Guia lighthouse debate
discussed later in this article is a case in point. The huge number of vis-
itors, together with the poor visitor management facilities at heritage sites
documented by Wan and Pinheiro (2005), is also causing overcrowding and
making meaningful onsite interpretation extremely difficult (Sharif, 2008).
The Tourism Carrying Capacity of Macau study indicates that both residents
and tourists are becoming more sensitive to overcrowding, especially at bor-
der control gates and restaurants, and are not satisfied with the increasing
number of visitors (Institute for Tourism Studies, 2007). Serious environmen-
tal degradation (Yu, 2008) and congestion at Macau’s heritage sites (du Cros
& Kong, 2006) have also been reported (please also refer to “ Explosive
Growth,” 2007b).
The challenge now facing Macau tourism planning is how to strike a bal-
ance between the interests of casinos and tourism development, the interests
of the local community, World Heritage protection needs, and urban devel-
opment. A sustainable tourism planning approach is needed to allow the
different stakeholders to achieve a consensus on how best to use the lim-
ited resources available. The next section discusses the tourism planning
approach currently adopted in Macau and examines both the degree to
which it is responsive to various needs and the shortcomings that are evident.

MACAU’S TOURISM PLANNING APPROACH AND ITS

SHORTCOMINGS
Overcentralization of Tourism Planning With Little Room for
Community Participation
Tosun (2001) and Tosun and Timothy (2001) observed that the planning
apparatus is highly centralized in most developing countries. This is also
 Tourism Planning 85

Macau Government Tourist Office

Transport Bureau
Chief Executive of Macau
PRC
Govern
Environmental Protection Committee
Secretary of Transport & Public Works

Cultural Affairs Bureau

Office of the Secretary of Transport & Public Works

Research Centre for Sustainable

Development Strategies

Land, Public Works & Traffic Infrastructure

Transport Bureau Department Development
Institute For Tourism Studies

Urban Urbanization Land Public Infrastructure

Planning Department Management Construction Department

FIGURE 3 Major government authorities and departments involved in tourism planning.

Note. Dotted lines represent the departments that serve only in an advisory capacity. Arrows represent
the departments which have a direct involvement in the planning process. Source: Based on the Report
on Macau’s Urban Planning System (Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau, 2008).

true in Macau. The major government authorities and departments involved

in tourism and urban plan-making process are depicted in Figure 3.
According to the Basic Law (Macao Basic Law, n.d.), the PRC
Government cannot interfere in the internal planning affairs of the Macau
Government (Macau SAR Government, 1999). Nevertheless, reclamation
projects represent a territorial expansion and require the approval of the
Central Government. At the local planning level (including tourism), jurisdic-
tion over district plan-making is vested solely in the Secretary of Transport
and Public Works (STPW) of the Macau Government, although various
related government departments such as the Macau Government Tourist
Office, the Transport Bureau, and the Cultural Affairs Bureau do have an
advisory role (Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau, 2008, p. 30; refer
to Figure 4). Policies made by the STPW office are then implemented by
the Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau (DSSOPT in Portuguese) and the
Development Bureau (GDI in Portuguese). Before 2008, the DSSOPT and the
GDI were responsible for planning projects on the Macao Peninsular and in
the Cotai area (a newly reclaimed district; Figure 1), respectively. Since 2008,
86 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

all planning tasks have been centralized in the DSSOPT to facilitate better
coordination.
After receiving the instruction from the STPW to make a new tourism
plan, either the DSSOT or the GDI will instruct the Urban Planning
Department to prepare the plan. Following consultation with the relevant
government departments, the Secretary of the DSSOPT will initially consider
and approve the plan, which will then be endorsed by the STPW (Figure 4).
During the entire plan-making process, sometimes the local citizens will
be consulted through some neighborhood workshops, but it is not an offi-
cial requirement. Unlike the situation in the neighboring city of Hong Kong
(which is also a special administrative region of China), where a 3-month

Urban Planning Department of the

Public Works Dept (DSSOPT)
Consultation with the
Consult with relevant
Cartography and Cadastre
government departments
Bureau for surveys and
mapping information
Consultation with
Surveys and functional departments
mapping
information Preliminary plan, often drafted in detail and then submitted to the
relevant government departments (only compulsory if the plan is
related to their main purpose: education, tourism. heritage)

Urban Planning Department Consultation with various government

departments on the preliminary draft plan

Revision of the draft plan

Disagree Secretary of DSSOPT considers and

approves the draft plan

Agree

Secretary of Transport & Public Works

Disagree
approves and new order issued

Plan implemented by the Secretary of

DSSOPT

Plan further carried out by the Urban

Planning Department

Plan implementation

FIGURE 4 The tourism and urban plan-making process.

Source: Adapted from the Report on Macau’s Urban Planning System (Land, Public Works & Transport
Bureau, 2008).
 Tourism Planning 87

consultation period applies, Macau citizens are provided with no formal

channel for participation in the tourism planning process.
The top-down decision-making culture can also be seen from the fact
that while business interests are directly appointed to the legislative bod-
ies, only a minority of deputies are directly elected from and by the local
community.
This executive-led pro-growth planning mode was not challenged to
any significant degree until the Guia Hill debate broke out in 2006 (du Cros,
2009; Wan, Pinheiro, & Korenaga, 2007). The debate started when the media
announced plans to construct an office, residential, and hotel complex with
several towers of over 99.91 meters in height within a 300-meter long lot
at the foot of historic Guia Hill. Local residents believed that these devel-
opments would completely block views of the 90-meter high lighthouse on
Guia Hill, a lighthouse that contains a 17th century chapel and was built
in 1865, making it the first modern lighthouse in China (Tso, 2006). This
site was carefully protected by the previous colonial administration in the
1990s, which enforced a maximum development height of 20.5 meters (Tso,
2006). The guidelines are now being revoked without any announcement
or community consultation. The government (via the LPWTO) has explained
that the change stem from the need “to modernize the legislation, already
15 years old and completely outdated, out of touch with the gambling sec-
tor development and the increasing need for building sites” (cited in Tso,
2006, p. 19).
The local community, led by a number of professional groups such
as the Guia Lighthouse Protection Concern Group, objected to the pro-
posed developments, believing that they would totally block views of the
UNESCO-classified Guia Lighthouse and affect urban ventilation. Owing
to the absence of a formal channel for genuine dialogue, the community
groups had no choice other than to bring the issue to the attention of
the international community. In mid-August 2007, two community groups
led by architects, town planners, and tourism and historical experts jointly
wrote a letter to UNESCO, resulting in a warning letter being issued to
the Cultural Bureau of the Chinese Government in September 2007 (Guia
Lighthouse Protection Concern Group, 2007) and a copy of the same reach-
ing the Macau Government in November 2007. This problem could clearly
have been avoided if more effort had been made to facilitate dialogue and
consultation between local residents and the government.
Having learned from the Guia Hill debate, the government recognized
the importance of public consultation for any major government policy. In a
stark about face, five major public consultations were conducted in 2007.
Two of these consultations were related to urban and tourism planning.
Public consultation on a long-term strategic plan for Macau—An Outline
for Macau Urban Concept Plan (OMUCP)—was firstly conducted by a gov-
ernment body namely the Research Center for Sustainable Development
88 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

Strategies (2008). The form of public participation used was criticized by

some local academics and professionals. One of their criticisms was the com-
pressed nature of the 2-month consultation period (with another 6 months
being set aside exclusively for consulting experts on their views). The con-
sultation is considered too short because this is first formal large-scale urban
planning consultation exercise in Macau and that the local people basically
had little idea of what urban and tourism planning involves (Hong Kong
Institute of Planners, 2008). In addition, important definitions of terms
such as “outline concept plan” and “sustainable development” were miss-
ing from or were not clearly defined in the report (Hong Kong Institute of
Planners, 2008; Macao Urban Plan Institute, 2008; Yeung, 2008). The logic
behind the various development options chosen was missing (Macau Urban
Planning Institute, 2008) and the population growth projection was unreal-
istic (Hong Kong Institute of Planners, 2008). Most government consultation
booklets are issued in only Portuguese and Chinese versions, making it
extremely difficult for international scholars to offer comments. A consulta-
tion on future urban planning strategies was also conducted in November
2008 through the publication of the Report on Macau’s Urban Planning
System (Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau, 2008). This document
was more detailed than the 148-page OMUCP but the consultation period
was shorter at only 1 month.
A draft Cultural Heritage Protection Law aimed at providing a better
legal framework for protecting local cultural heritage assets was also pro-
posed in 2009 (Cultural Affairs Bureau, 2009). Despite the importance of
such laws, the consultation period was set at only 1 month (April–May 2009).
Surprisingly, the draft law does not update the outdated list of protected
buildings, heritage and landscapes to reflect a number of buildings and sites
that local people consider ought to be included, and instead leaves the list as
it has stood since 1992. The new law focuses on penalties and a subjective
case-by-case approach for rehabilitation decisions without providing much in
the way of concrete guidelines. It also lacks standard international require-
ments on environmental impact assessment and public consultation. The
composition of the Heritage Management Council (HEMC) aimed at draw-
ing together various stakeholders to protect local heritage (as requested in
UNESCO-ICOMOS drafts; State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the
People’s Republic of China, 2001) remains unknown, leading to doubts over
the effective representation of heritage-related institutions and their role in
the collegial management system and tending to suggest the continuation of
a de facto dictatorship whereby one institution has a monopoly over heritage
affairs (Macau Architects Association, 2009).
Therefore, despite the positive move to consult with the public on major
government policies, regardless of the scope, degree, and intensity of public
involvement, the efforts made in this direction are limited and cannot be
considered as a genuine form of public involvement; according to Arnstein’s
 Tourism Planning 89

ladder of citizen participation (Arnstein, 1969). In this ladder, the lowest

two levels are “manipulation” and “therapy.” They are by no means real
participation but participation as a mere format of manipulation for rules
and a way to “treat” the apathetic public. Although people are placed in
the advisory boards, they are used as a rubber stamp by power-holders to
have a chance to educate or “cure” the participants. The third to fifth levels
of participation—“informing,” “consultation,” and “placation”—are only cere-
monial and token participation. People are informed by the government offi-
cials; however, instead of a two-way communication, the emphasis is on col-
lecting citizen’s opinions. The current form of public involvement in Macau
could be classified as between the informing, consultation and placation
stages. Consultation documents lack enough and accurate information and
the format of consultation is more on disseminating information, collecting
citizen’s opinions instead of two-way dialogues. Arnstein only considers the
levels of “partnership,” “delegation of power,” and “citizen control” to be real
participation. The public is given a formal position in the decision-making
process in partnership and delegation of power. At the highest level of the
ladder, citizen control, citizens have the power to control policy. There is a
lot of room for Macau to improve its public consultation practices and mode.

Lack of a Clear City Vision at the Strategic Planning Level

A strategic plan with a clear city vision for the future is a prerequisite
for sustainable tourism development. Having a clear vision also helps to
direct the use of community resources more effectively and in the setting
of performance evaluation standards (C. Hall & McArthur, 1998). Unlike
neighboring cities such as Hong Kong (Hong Kong Government, 2006)
and Zhuhai (Zhuhai Government, 2006), Macau does not have any strategic
developmental plan that clearly stipulates its future development goals and
objectives. Architects and planners have long relied on a government con-
sultative study, The 21st Century City Planning Guidelines Study 1999–2020,
as a reference (Lam & Sam, 1999). This report, which is informal in nature
and has no statutory effect, suggested that the city has been positioned as a
tourism destination led by the gaming industry in stating that Macao should
be “an international tourist leisure resort . . . whose dominating mainstay
should be modern entertainment and tourist services led by the gambling
industry.”
While several top government officials have made city vision statements
on different occasions since 2002, they all have different visions. Moreover,
the views expressed by the same official change from one day to the
next. For example, in 2001, the President of the Cultural Institute of Macao
articulated a grand vision for Macau as a city of culture (Ho, 2002). By 2002,
this vision had been replaced by that of Francis Tam Pak-Yuen, Secretary
90 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

for Economy and Finance, who envisioned Macau as “an international con-
vention center and holiday resort” (Ho, 2002). Before the close of the same
year, the chief executive of Macau, Edmond Ho, identified gaming, leisure
(tourism and entertainment), and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions,
and exhibitions) as the three pillars of Macau’s economy (Pacific Asia Travel
Association, 2002). In his policy addresses in 2006 and 2007, he reconfirmed
the need to develop Macau as an entertainment hub which offers almost
everything, including gambling, MICE, and a cultural hub, to convince
tourists to stay longer and spend more (Macau Government, 2006a). The dif-
ficulties encountered in accurately positioning the city may be attributable to
the fast-changing circumstances of Macau, the unpreparedness of the Macau
Government to cope with its rapid growth, an absence of scientific research
and database and insufficient public participation in the decision-making
process.

Lack of a Legal System and a Master Plan

The legal system governing tourism planning and development in Macau
suffers from some serious shortcomings. There is no town-planning ordi-
nance stipulating what the planning procedures are, who has the power to
view and consider development proposals, or how the general public can
become involved in the process. Tourism projects are assessed and approvals
granted in what are essentially secret deals between the few top government
officials and applicants. The general public only knows of the result when
construction is started.
Tourism planning in Macau has been carried out in a fragmented man-
ner due mainly to the absence of a master plan. This situation echoes the
observation of Tosun and Jenkins (1998) that in most developing countries,
tourism development planning often proceeds in an ad hoc way. A senior
government official in the Urban Planning Bureau of the Land, Public Works
and Transport Office (LPWTO) once commented that the priority of urban
planning in Macau is economic development and is driven by the prompt
provision of answers to meet the needs of the gaming industry. He denied
that Macau has no urban plan because there is a general map of the knowl-
edge inside the minds of the secretaries and senior public servants. He also
stressed that Macau does not need a concrete master plan and that sec-
toral plans supported by guidelines issued on a case-by-case basis and laws
are enough because they are more flexible and create fewer controversies
(“A Prioridade,” 2006). Unfortunately, the section plans are not available
for public scrutiny. In common with many developing countries such as
Turkey and India (Tosun, 2001), corruption and clientelism are common. Ao
Man Long, the former secretary for transport and public works, was arrested
in December 2006 for his alleged involvement in a massive public works
corruption scandal (Farr, 2008).
 Tourism Planning 91

Given this background to planning in Macau, what has happened in

the past is that great swaths of prime public land have been eaten up by
real estate and gaming interests. For example, the carefully drafted and
detailed laws (running to 175 pages) issued in 1991 for the NAPE area (new
reclaimed areas in Outer Harbour and Nam Wan Bay), which were initially
aimed at overcoming the weaknesses of previous partial plans by com-
prehensively developing the entire area for residential use and community
facilities (Figure 5), were repealed by the Chief Executive on August 16,
2007. The government justified its decision by saying that because many
concessions had already been made for building new casinos (which have
violated many of the planning concepts and regulations implemented in
the original NAPE plan) and taking the need for economic development
into account (based on the gaming and tourism industry), it was difficult
to follow the outdated NAPE plan so it was cancelled (Macau Government,
2006b). Parts of the NAPE green and residential areas are now occupied
by the Star World Hotel, the Le Arch complex, the Sands Casino and the
Cultural Center, leaving only a few green spaces. The general public has
never been consulted about these changes.
Another example of the government’s ad hoc planning approach is the
Cotai plan (for reclaimed land between Coloane and Taipa Islands). This
plan was initially designed in the last years of the Portuguese administration
to support a total of 180,000 residents and 40,000 MICE visitors and hotel
guests (Figure 6). After the liberalization of the gaming industry, private and
public spaces such as schools, fire stations, markets, and residential areas
were all “eaten up” and have now been converted into the “Cotai Strip,”
which is mostly occupied by casino and hotel projects including Venetian,
Studio City, Galaxy Entertainment, and City of Dreams (Figure 7). Only the
race-carting track and a small golf course remain untouched because they
are built on land reclaimed from a garbage dump.
Casino and hotel developers have even bought the space in the Cotai
Strip previously reserved for the extension of Macau University of Science

FIGURE 5 The present NAPE plan. The NAPE area is now being occupied by Galaxy, the
Sands Casino, and the Cultural Center.
Source: “Macao Present and Future” exhibition in 1999 by Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau of
the Macao Government.
92 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

FIGURE 6 The 1999 plan of Cotai. The core of the plan is residential and social facilities
(color figure available online).
Source: “Macao Present and Future” exhibition in 1999 by Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau of
the Macao Government.

FIGURE 7 The 2006 plan of Cotai. It is mostly occupied by casinos, hotels, and entertainment
complexes (color figure available online).
Source: http://www.hotel online.com.

and Technology for about M$10 billion, a space the government had exclu-
sively reserved for educational purposes. Construction began before formal
rezoning procedures had been completed and 2 years before it had been
officially gazetted (“Packer Casinos Linked,” 2008). In yet another such inci-
dent, a local Portuguese school previously classified as a heritage building
is planned for demolition to make way for expansion of the Lisboa Casino.
Parents and students have not been involved in the negotiation process and
are being kept in dark until negotiations conclude (“Associação,” 2008).

Insufficient Development Laws and Guidelines

To allow more flexibility in planning, there are very few laws and guidelines
governing urban and tourism planning in Macau and many of those that
are in place are outdated. The existing urban planning guidelines and laws
 Tourism Planning 93

were developed by various architects between 1986 and 1987. According

to the Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau, many of the bylaws and
guidelines are outdated (Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau, 2008). The
rest of these plans are merely internal documents that are not available for
public scrutiny and have no statutory effect (Land, Public Works & Transport
Bureau, 2008). Besides, of the 85 laws and orders that related to urban
planning, architecture, buildings, heritage, and land, only 16 are directly
concerned with urban planning (Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau,
2008). Many necessary guidelines—such as those regarding heritage, social
and environmental impact assessment, urban skylines, design and transport
requirements, and change of land use—do not exist.
Without a checks-and-balances mechanism, the limited guidelines that
are in place in Macau can easily be canceled since public consultation is
not the norm. Apart from the Guia Hill case described earlier, the Urban
Intervention Plan, the only heritage design guidelines for Macau as a whole,
is also being cancelled (Pinheiro & Costa, 1998). The Urban Intervention
Plan is the set of design guidelines that the government has used since 1984
(although it was revised in 1987) to preserve the old townscapes in Macau,
Taipa, and Coloane. It provides guidelines on building height, roof styles,
and the use of timber and window frames, et cetera (Pinheiro & Costa, 1998).
The absence of a master plan, the lack of planning guidelines, and
overcentralization of power in the hands of a few have resulted in simi-
lar situations in many developing countries such as Turkey. Tosun (2001,
p. 255) commented that:

Building physical facilities, such as hotels, restaurants, telecommunica-

tions system, and transportation has been the main instrumental concern
of tourism planning in many developing countries. Thus, tourism plan-
ning was seen as a simplistic process of encouraging new hotels to open,
making sure that there was transportation access to the area.

Planning is also conducted in an ad hoc way driven by the market. As Butler

(1990, p. 16) noted, “rather than planning, and in such a situation capac-
ity parameters (environmental and human) have rarely been considered.
Emphasis has traditionally been on attracting tourists rather than planning
for appropriate development and management of result effects.” High-class
entertainment towers are now randomly built in century-old narrow streets
like toothpicks in the middle of a spaghetti mess of roads and overpasses,
contributing to endemic traffic jams, an urban screen wall effect, and pollu-
tion, and creating an unattractive environment for locals and tourists alike.

Lack of Intergovernmental Collaboration and Duplication of Work

A lack of collaboration among government agencies, between various admin-
istrative levels, and between planning institutions is a significant obstacle to
94 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

planning for tourism projects. The problem is mainly caused by the sectoral
planning tradition and an absence of planning guidelines, which allows dif-
ferent government agencies to perform their own specific tasks according
to their interests and expertise. Interdepartmental communication and coor-
dination are minimal. Projects are often done in an ad hoc and fragmented
manner. For example, due to the poor interdepartmental communication and
coordination amongst those government departments, some cultural heritage
sites are not well maintained. One example is the historical buildings in
the St. Lazarus district. Apart from the new public lighting decorations and
new pavements, the buildings remain untouched since the 1990s present-
ing an unattractive image of “houses being haunted by ghosts” (Figure 8).
Another example is the restaurants on Happiness Street. The buildings are
dilapidated and the canopies broken. The buildings along this street are her-
itage properties that are owned and managed by the Macau government.
Besides, there were overlaps in some of the planning tasks. Both the
GDI and the LPWTO were responsible for large-scale planning projects
before 2008, The government’s recent report (Land, Public Works &
Transport Bureau, 2008, p. 51) also recognizes this problem and urges that
the GDI return its planning powers to the LPWTO to allow it to act as the
central authority for all planning activities.

Lack of Expertise
Scholars observe that a lack of financial resources and expertise are the
two common causes of poor tourism planning in developing countries (Li,
2004; Tosun, 2000; Tosun & Jenkins, 1998). A lack of financial resources
often makes public consultation impossible because consultation is a money-
consuming exercise (Tosun, 2000). In the case of Macau, financial resources
have never been a problem because of the huge amount of income gen-
erated from the gaming sector. In 2008 alone, Macau registered a surplus
of US$13.6 billion (“Macao’s Forex Reserves,” 2008). Instead, the major
problem is a lack of expertise. With only a few qualified urban planners,

FIGURE 8 The ghost image of St. Lazarus quarters (color figure available online).
Source: Taken by the authors.
 Tourism Planning 95

FIGURE 9 Dilapidated buildings and canopies of the restaurants at the Happiness Street
(color figure available online).
Source: Taken by the authors.

most planning jobs are undertaken by either engineers or architects. The

Macau Urban Planning Institute was only recently formed in mid-2008 and
has few registered members, not all of whom have an urban planning
background and some of whom are architects or engineers. The OMUCP
consultation report was mainly prepared by individuals with little back-
ground in urban/tourism planning. This serious shortage of urban and
tourism planners is also attributable to the government’s lack of empha-
sis on urban planning in the past. Unlike gaming and tourism, no local
training courses or university degrees are offered in the fields of urban
planning, geography, resource management, and sustainable development.
It was not until this September that a private university (The University
of Saint Joseph; the former name was The Inter University Institute of
Macau) began to offer an architecture degree program. As a result, Macau
often needs to hire planners from outside, which is not always easy. The
urgent need to increase both the quantity and quality of professionals has
also been highlighted in the Report on Macau’s Urban Planning System
(Land, Public Works & Transport Bureau, 2008). Also, by imparting more
tourism and urban planning knowledge to the local people, it would help
with building up local skills and capacity to contribute to any public con-
sultation exercises in the future (Caffyn & Jobbins, 2003; World Tourism
Organization, 1999).

DISCUSSION, POLICY IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS

This article examines the tourism planning and development challenges that
Macau is currently facing and discusses the shortcomings of its tourism
planning approach in responding to these challenges. It is argued that the
current top-town and pro-growth driven planning approach is insensitive or
unresponsive to the fast-changing circumstances of local society. While this
approach could be appropriately applied to the development of individual
hotels or small resorts in the pre-mass tourism era that ended in 2002 with
96 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

the liberalization of the casino licensing system and the implementation of

the Individual Visitation Scheme in the following year, that era is now a
distant memory. Subsequent attempts made to develop mass tourism with-
out a comprehensive and participatory planning approach have resulted in
environmental, social, and economic problems.
Echoing what Tosun and Timothy (2001) have argued, poor tourism
planning that is unresponsive to societal demands is often a result of the
constraints imposed by existing and long standing socio-political and eco-
nomic circumstances (Tosun & Timothy, 2001). In the case of Macau, the
root cause of such poor planning practices is the imbalance in power rela-
tions. The long history of reliance on the gaming sector has enabled this
sector to assume the strongest bargaining position and resulted in tourism
planning that is biased towards the interests of its participants. An executive-
led, top-down planning model, together with the past vague city positioning
and the absence of a master plan and detailed planning guidelines, offer
huge opportunities for the few senior government officials that maintain
an exclusive hold on power to determine the use of a city’s resources in
hidden ways, providing room for developing a form of private client rela-
tionship between bureaucratic patrons and entrepreneur/developer clients
(Healey, 1997; Zhang, Ding, & Bao, 2009). Factors that exacerbate the situ-
ation include the general political apathy of many local people, the lack of
planning knowledge and expertise, the small number of directly elected rep-
resentatives on local legislative bodies (most of whom are appointed by the
government and business representatives), and the absence of a formal pub-
lic participation channel, all of which contribute to a weak civil community.
These circumstances are similar to those that prevail in many developing
countries (Tosun, 2000, 2001). What makes Macau different is perhaps its
heavy reliance on the gaming sector and its unpreparedness to cope with
the sudden and rapid growth experienced within the space of a few years
(2002–2008).
In a fast-growing city with many development pressures and contra-
dictions and an increasingly politicized community, a sustainable tourism
planning strategy is needed. Sustainable tourism planning brings issues of
social equity and environmental sustainability to the forefront of the planning
process by striving for a more balanced approach that takes into account
environmental concerns, community interests, and business interests (Gunn,
2002; Lew, 2007). This requires all stakeholders to adhere to the sustainable
principles in their actions and decision-making.
The local economy has to be diversified in order to optimize economic
growth, improve local and regional linkages, and distribute economic bene-
fits fairly to the host community and the tourism industry (Choi & Sirakaya,
2006). In the case of Macau, sustainable tourism could be achieved by first
diversifying Macau’s economy away from its casino industry in order avoid
one particular economic sector holding too much bargaining power. The
Central Government representative, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, visited
 Tourism Planning 97

the region on January 10, 2009 and advised that the local economy be diver-
sified, a suggestion reflected not only in his words but also in the availability
to Macau of land on neighboring Hengqing Island, where a new univer-
sity campus will be built. The availability of this land will help reduce the
city’s density and improve living standards. The recent government decision
to shift its resources to the meetings, incentive, convention, and exhibition
(MICE) sector seems to be a wise decision that will benefit society over the
long-term.
Sustainable tourism planning can also be achieved if there are strategic,
long-term sustainable tourism plans (United Nations, 1999). Planning and
land rules have to be clear and fair to all parties, avoiding secret deals and
a case-by-case planning approach of the past. There is also an urgent need
to formulate a comprehensive set of consistent and transparent planning
missions, strategies, policies, and detailed planning standards and guide-
lines. Guidelines on buffer zone borders, impacts assessments, and urban
sky limits, etc., could help resolve current and potential conflicts, speed
up the planning process, and avoid the case-by-case planning approach
of the past. Specific guidelines that complement the general rules should
be formulated for different locations and districts that have unique urban
fabrics and cultural heritage characteristics. A taskforce with power to mobi-
lize resources is urgently needed to foster coordination and communication
among government departments in handling planning projects.
For the sustainable tourism growth, a new mode of decision-making,
which could balance the interests of different stakeholders in their decision-
making process, is also required (Brundtland Commission, n.d.). As the
concerns of sustainable tourism span numerous policy domains and involve
diverse actors who have varied interests and priorities, sustainable tourism
growth needs to delegate more power to the local people (Bramwell,
2011; C. M. Hall, 2011). The interests of different stakeholders should be
identified (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Different stakeholders including res-
idents in the local community should be given the chance to participate
throughout the entire planning process, including decision-making, problem
solving, project implementation, and evaluation (Cameron, Memon, Simmon,
& Fairweather, 2001). Local government also plays an important role in
facilitating this process to ensure the participation of all relevant stakeholders
(Churugsa, McIntosh, & Simmons, 2007; Gunn, 2002). Getting community
involved has the benefit of creating a sense of ownership over decision
making and make residents feel more positive towards tourism development
(Murphy, 1983). On the other hand, if the residents are not consulted in
the planning process, they would feel indifferent or antagonistic towards
tourism development. Their negative attitudes and emotions would be felt
by the tourists (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2008).
For Macau, discussing and drafting a statutory town planning ordinance
which stipulates the plan-making process to be followed and when and
how the public is to be permitted a say in the planning process may be
98 P. Y. K. Wan and F. V. Pinheiro

the first step (an making it generally available to the public). Ideally, pub-
lic consultation should be allowed at different planning phases, ranging
from goal formulation to selection of development options, plan implemen-
tation, and evaluation. Genuine public consultations should be conducted
by considering the scope and representation of participants, the period
allowed for public involvement, and the languages and techniques used
in the consultation process. Trilingual consultation materials whereby docu-
ments in Chinese, English, and Portuguese are available will certainly help
to encourage more research and discussion within the local community.
Knowledge is power, and without knowledge, citizens can hardly con-
tribute meaningfully to the entire planning process (Friedman, 1987). The
availability of university degree programs and training courses in urban and
tourism planning, geography, sustainable development, and resource man-
agement would help nurture young blood interested in joining the planning
field and build local skills and capacity. Last but not least, an institutional
framework that helps bring academics, industry experts, and government
tourism officials into research and policymaking activities could facilitate the
process of consensus building required to achieve common tourism goals.
Looking into the future, given the clear emphasis on regional coopera-
tion in the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–2010) (Hainan, 2012) issued by the
Chinese Government; the prerequisite for achieving sustainable tourism goals
within the region (Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong within the Pearl River
Region) in future will be more dialogue, collaboration and consensus-making
amongst stakeholders at both the local and regional levels.
This article contributes to understand the current development chal-
lenges faced by Macau and the responsiveness of its tourism planning
approach in responding to those changes. It fills in some gaps of research
in this area and offers solutions to improve the situation. The case of Macau
can be a good reference to other rapidly growing tourism and gaming
destinations. As with other studies, this study is not without its limitations
such as the difficulties in accessing some of the tourism planning guidelines
and polices of the government and the lack of previous studies in this
area. Future research can include interviewing with the stakeholders in
tourism planning in order to obtain a more in-depth insight into the topic.
Nonetheless, this article sheds some light on the Macau tourism planning
challenges and problems, and provide baseline evidence for further debate
and research in this area.

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