The Venetian Macao has welcomed more than half a million visitors in its first week since opening - an average of more than 80,000 a day. That's unprecedented for an Asian theme park, let alone an 'integrated resort'.
Hong Kong Disneyland, by contrast, is averaging 11,000 a day while the government frets about how to pay for its next phase.
Consider that the Macau government put up not a penny for the Venetian's construction, yet takes 40 per cent of its gaming proceeds and 15 per cent of its corporate profit. There are no prizes for guessing which of China's two special administrative regions has the better investment.
Macau is on track to pull in more visitors than Hong Kong by the end of this year.
Indeed, Macau's decision to liberalise its gaming market in 2002 is likely to see the value of its tourist industry rival Hong Kong's by 2012.
It won't just be thanks to gaming, either: by 2010, Macau's hotel room inventory will triple to more than 30,000 (Hong Kong has 50,000). That is before the Wynn and MGM-Grand resorts, or Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, get going on Cotai.
