Macao Dragon launches its long-awaited gigantic ferry service this weekend, after months of speculation and a government-imposed deadline of July 14. According to a report in Macau Daily Times, the service will launch with five trips a day between the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal and the Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal. Two boats with a carrying capacity of 1,152 (more than twice the size of Venetian’s CotaiJet ferries) will ply the route, though they will start with just 600 passengers each for “safety reasons”, a company spokesperson said.

It might be tempting to believe that the new ferry service will erode the Venetian’s competitive advantage in Cotai as more visitors travel on non-Venetian ferries. The reality is that these boats will probably do more to help the big integrated resort squeeze in increasing numbers of visitors on the weekends. No details have been released yet on tickets, but they are probably going to be price-competitive for tour groups: how else does an operator fill such a huge boat five times a day, each way? Which is great for the Venetian, as it doesn’t need to subsidize these cheap fares itself and it will have extra capacity available on the Cotai route for peak times, such as popular concerts on Saturday nights. Expect City of Dreams to benefit, too, as tour-group operators push their customers to Cotai.

Used with permission & copyright to IntelMacau