Hong Kong and Macao are both special administrative regions of China, Macao is small and has much less residents, and it is geographically close to Hong Kong, so many policies have always referred to Hong Kong related legislation. Until recent years, Macao has made every effort to promote the gambling industry, and finally made Macao's per capita GDP ranked third in the world in 2018.
After Macao's return to the homeland in 1999, the gambling industry was still in small
scale and the influx of black-market laborers, this unfriendly environment caused the instability of the society. During those years, a large number of local laborers protested on Labor Day every year. In 2008, Macau government has been launching a wealth partaking scheme to distribute cash allowance each local resident. Since then, there had been no more public protests against the government policies. Early of this year, Hong Kong was still confined to internal general affairs, while Macau is fully engaged in economic development.
Macau did not promote night economy, but Macao's cumulative gambling revenue in the first ten months of this year reached MOP$150 billion, a three-fold increase over the same period of last year, and the Macao government predicted that the city’s revenue and expenditure in the coming year will be close to reach a balance. This year, Hong Kong's land sales and land premium proceeds are about Hk$ 9.8 billion, only 11% of the total projected revenue of $85 billion. HKEX's daily trading volume in the first 10 months of this year was $106.6 billion, a slightly decrease from the same period of last year. During the past two years, the trading revenues had not increased significantly. Hong Kong government expected its revenue to reach a balance in the year of 2024. Is it possible?
Macao focuses on the gambling industry and tourism, and since the beginning of the year, gambling revenues and the amounts of tourists have rebounded sharply. The Hong Kong property and stock market has failed, but the Hong Kong government has no way to save it, and only symbolically cancelled partial property spicy measures, and the stamp duty of the stock market had also only been slightly reduced, and these policies’ effects are minimal. When will the relevant industries bottom out. In this way, Hong Kong has been sluggish, while Macao has been rebounding rapidly.
In recent years, Hong Kong government officials have often held exchange activities with Greater Bay Area local government, but not to Macao, which is also understandable, because Hong Kong, which used to be the big brother, now wants to use the night economy to attract local residents to stay in Hong Kong for consumption, and Macao tourists have rebounded sharply, and they are overwhelmed. Hong Kong's real estate, stock market, and financial sector are recovering indefinitely, while Macau's gambling industry has been reborn. Being a Macao person is more pleasant than being a Hong Kong person.
