Macau Daily Times – The Taoyuan County government and the Taipei Trade Centre Hong Kong have organized a conference to introduce Macau investors to the Yaoyaun Aerotropolis Development Project. The plan is to utilize Taoyuan International Airport and the nearby lots to turn the airport into a “hub and spoke” of Asia. One of the project’s highlights is a plan to attract investors to set up businesses with gambling elements.
Mr Li Wei Feng, an advisor to the Taoyuan government, explained that there will be an “enterprise zone” of 200 hectares that will include “Taiwan Showcase”, the island’s largest exhibition center, and will welcome gambling-related businesses from the “Integrative Recreational” (IR) industry. But he reitereited that the Taiwanese government has yet to legislate on gambling. “The government is handling the relevant legislation at this moment. However, we can start planning on the non-gambling elements first. From my understanding of the gambling industry, it is quite easy (for businesses) to transform from non-gambling to gambling. But what we want to attract is an IR industry and a new model (of operation)… Our lands will be available to businesses in 2015 to 2016. Therefore, we can start planning now and there will be a conclusive result regarding the gambling issue (in the future).”
He also suggested that professionals from the Macau gambling industry could go to Taiwan. They will even receive a tax benefit that allows them to pay only 10 percent income tax, compared to the locals’ 20 percent.
Nevertheless, the advisor added that the Taoyuan government wants the focus to be on the IR industry, which includes an assortment of entertainment sectors, instead of the gambling section, which is only a part of IR. “We don’t just want to import a block of casinos, we also want the whole IR industry.”

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