The country is likely to have direct flights to and from Macau soon, a tourist destination that earns about $1billion monthly from casino gambling, located in the eastern Asian region, around 60 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong, bordering China.

Viva Macau, a low cost airline that operates direct flights between Macau and other destinations that include Jakarta, Sydney, Vietnam is planning to start direct flights to Indian destinations in the second half of this year. Macau attracts over 30 million tourists annually and earned $3.3 billion in the first quarter of 2009 as revenue from casino gambling.

?We are working towards operationalising direct flights to and from Indian destinations. We hope to start direct flights in the later half of the year, in most likelihood between Macau and Mumbai,? said Reginald Macdonald, CEO, Viva Macau Ltd. Viva Macau, a privately owned airline in which international venture capital firm MKW Capital has invested, is hunting for partners in India to market and distribute Macau tourism.

Macau, that hosted the IIFA film awards this year, has seen a seasonal spurt of around 25-30% rise in Indian tourists in last 3-4 months compared to the first 2-3 months of 2009, observe tour operators of Macau participating in Ficci-IIFA global business forum.

According to the Macau government data, the destination with 22 odd casinos, has witnessed about 28% year-on-year growth in tourists from India for the month of April. The annual growth for January-April 2009 (23,607 tourists) stands at 19% compared to the corresponding period of 2008 (19,758 tourists).

Macdonald notes that the number of Indian visitors could be much higher as a large chunk of Indian tourists come to Macau from countries like Indonesia or other Southeast Asian destinations, to which Macau is directly connected by air. He hopes that the real tourism potential between India and Macau can be harnessed, once direct air connectivity is ensured between the two destinations and more such crowd pulling events like IIFA are hosted.

KK Modi, chairman, Modi Enterprises and head of Ficci’s India-China Joint Business Council also seconds Macau as an attractive and economical destination for business tourism. ?We had organised a meet, mostly business executives from Modi Enterprises in Macau in April. Considering the bulk discounts and package tour offers, hosting an event of such a scale in India would have proved more expensive,? said Modi saying that Indian tourists are just waking upto Macau’s potential.

?(Travel for the story was sponsored by Ficci)