Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) as is Hong Kong and is governed under the "one country, two systems" principal, which was the brainchild of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Although no longer a colony, Portuguese is still an official language and the Portuguese influence can be seen everywhere from blue tiled street signs to tiled floors and beautiful gardens.
The land of the city is quite small covering an area of just 30 km2 according to the United Nations Statistics Division. The total population is 646,800 (2016 cencus) of which 95% are Chinese, the remainder being Portuguese and other westerners. Macau has the world's highest population density with 19 221.4 people per square kilometer. No surprise then that it needed to do something dramatic to make room for new casinos and 30 million visitors that come every year. The solution was a massive land reclamation project that joined the two islands south of the mainland Coloane and Taipa. This gave Macau an extra 5.2 square kilometers to create a gambling mecca to rival Las Vegas. It's known as the Cotai Strip drawing on the names of the two islands, Coloane and Taipa. The Venetian Resort, City of Dreams, Sands Cotai and Galaxy Macau Resort are all on the Cotai Strip.
Some other facts and figures
Macau is the gambling capital of the world. By far the most popular game is baccarat, a relatively simple game with a low house advantage (less than 1%). Baccarat tables dominate the city's 33 casinos. There are plenty of slot machines as well, but they offer a high house advantage and aren't popular. This is the reverse of Las Vegas where gamblers favor slots. Macau's revenue from gambling is $33 billion, more than five times that of the Las Vegas Strip. Tycoon Stanley Ho's 40-year reign as the city's casino kingpin came to an end in 2002 when the Macau government ended the monopoly system. There are six the big casino operators: SJM Holdings (Stanley Ho), Wynn Macau, Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment Group, MGM China Holdings and Melco Crown Entertainment.
Language
The official languages of Macau are Chinese and Portuguese. English plays an unofficial but highly prominent role: it is the medium of instruction at the University of Macau and at a number of secondary schools. Other schools use Cantonese as medium of instruction and there is one Portuguese-medium school. Trilingualism in Chinese, Portuguese and English is just the beginning, though. The linguistic situation is further complicated by the diversity of Chinese and the importance of the tourism industry.
The version of Chinese that is local to Macau is Cantonese but Putonghua is gaining in importance. Macau has about half a million residents but welcomes a staggering number of tourists: close to 30 million tourists visit Macau each year. Most of these come from Mainland China and so it is not surprising that in tourism spaces I overheard much more Putonghua than Cantonese. Written Chinese, too, comes in at least three varieties: traditional characters, simplified characters and pinyin. Furthermore, pinyin looks different depending on whether the writer followed English-based or Portuguese-based conventions.
Most business people speak good English, and government signs are posted in Chinese and English; , Cantonese is the spoken dialect of choice, compared with the more widely known Mandarin (Putonghua) used on the Chinese mainland. In fact, some Macau people can’t communicate with people from the Mainland owing to the vast differences in dialect and tone between Cantonese and the more formal Mandarin.
Macau is one of the fastest growing casino and entertainment hubs in the world. There are thousands of jobs hiring in Macau right now especially from the newly opened casinos or soon to be opened resorts like Wynn Palace. Macau's casinos employ 20% of the population. When a casino takes on new staff, it checks to see if he or she has family working in the casino and in which section, to avoid the possibility of fraud. Locals rarely visit the casinos to gamble and government employees are forbidden from gambling here. The overwhelming majority of gamblers are from mainland China and Hong Kong.
Macau Climate
Macau has a subtropical climate, with temperatures regulated by its coastal location. Seasonal changes are heavily influenced by monsoons: it is warm and humid when southeast and southwest winds come in from the Pacific, drier and colder when the north winds come from Siberia and northern China. Winter for Macau runs from November to February, which is when the northeast monsoon prevails, and is generally cold and dry. Spring comes in March and April, in the transition between the two monsoons, and brings with it wet and foggy weather.
From May to September, during the southern monsoon, it is hot and rainy (with most rain occurring in the afternoon). Autumn, from the late September through October, is sunny and comfortably warm. The average temperature for the year is around 23°C. In winter it can get as low as 10°C, while in summer it can reach the low 30s. Winds can reach gale force and typhoons, coming in from the Pacific Ocean, are not unknown. They tend to hit between May and October, bringing with them rain and lower temperatures. Overall the best time to visit is autumn (October to December), when days are sunny and warm and the humidity low.
Healthcare
Macau provides its residents with quality healthcare services. Just like in any other country, the healthcare system of Macau is divided into two the public healthcare and private healthcare. The region has three hospitals, namely Hospital Conde S. Januario (public hospital), Hospital Kiang Wu (private hospital), and Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital. The public and private hospitals are located in Macau Peninsula, while the university hospital is located in Cotai.
On the other hand, Macau’s private healthcare system provides topnotch health services that are subject to medical fees. Non-governmental health institutions in Macau include the Hospital Kiang Wu and Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital. Out of the 675 health clinics in Macau, 456 of them are private clinics. There are also 243 clinics and treatment centers in the region that provide Chinese traditional medicine.
Money/Currency
Macau's currency is the pataca, composed of 100 avos. Coins come in 10, 20, and 50 avos and 1, 2, and 5 patacas. Banknotes are issued for 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 patacas. Even though the pataca (ptc; also referred to as MOP$) is Macau's official currency, you can use your Hong Kong dollars everywhere, even on buses and for taxis (though you are likely to receive change in patacas). The pataca is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar at the rate of MOP$103.20=HK$100; however, on the street and in hotels and shops, the Macau pataca and Hong Kong dollar are treated as having equal value. I suppose, therefore, that you could save a minuscule amount by exchanging your money for patacas, but I rarely have done so and don't consider it worth the hassle for short stays in Macau.
You may wish to exchange a small amount say, HK$20, but keep in mind that the pataca is not accepted in Hong Kong. If you do exchange U.S. dollars or U.K. pounds (which you can do at banks, generally open weekdays 9am-5pm; at hotels; or at ATMs throughout the city), you'll receive approximately MOP$8 for each US$1, or MOP$15.4 for each £1. You can find money exchange counters at seemingly every corner, plus exchange counters at the airport and Hotel Lisboa are open 24 hours. The bank will give you a better exchange rate but exchange counters usually don't charge a commission.
Entry
Entry procedures into Macau are very simple. If you are American, Canadian, Australian, or New Zealander, you do not need a visa for Macau for stays of up to 30 days all you need is your passport. Residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland can stay up to 90 days without a visa.
A Macau visa can be obtained through the Embassies/Consulates of the PRC and should be used within its validity. Visitors may also apply for an entry permit or visa upon arrival at the immigration checkpoint. However, visitors from certain countries are required to obtain a visa in advance before their trip to Macau. There are three types of entry permit (i.e. Visa-upon-arrival) :
- Individual - MOP$100 (MOP$50 for children under the age of 12)
- Family Passport - MOP$200
- Group - MOP$50 per person for groups of at least 10 people organized by a single travel manager and presenting a collective travel document