New asian casinos drive skyrocketing tourist revenue

Increasing affluence in the Asian region is making large Casinos a more and more desirable tourist attraction for travellers visiting countries such as Macau, Vietnam and Singapore, say gaming analysts.

The casino haven of Macau has raked in a record $23 billion revenue for 2010, a 58% increase in takings from the previous year. Recent casino openings in neighbouring Asian nations hope to cash in on the new gambling craze, and they're having pretty darn good success at it so far - Singapore's two mega Casinos only opened last year and they've already recorded takings of $6.5 billion.

 "Most governments in Asia would like to see their casino strategies actually be tourist growth strategies",says US-based casino analyst  Jonathan Galaviz. Tourist arrivals reached record levels in Singapore in 2010, due mainly, it is thought, to the new Casinos, with large numbers of visitors from local nations like Indonesia, China and Australia.