Macau launches first English business newspaper for expats

Business Daily, which will have a daily circulation of 12,000, is targeting business travelers and the growing foreign community working in Macau. It aims to present the latest thinking on today’s most important business topics and to be essential reading in Macau’s rapidly-changing competitive environment.

Advertisers in the new paper include all six gaming operating groups in Macau (Sands China, SJM Holdings, Melco-Crown  Entertaintment, Wynn Macau, Galaxy and MGM), as well as luxury brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Dior, Cartier and the Richemont Group.

Talking about the launch's potential against the general belief that the print media is dying, Paulo Azevedo (pictured), publisher with De Ficção Multimedia Projects, pointed out that in just five years, Macau has tripled its number of hotel rooms. "We went from 10,000 to over 30,000 hotel rooms in April, the GDP growth in Macau in 2011 is 20 per cent, and retail business has been growing 40 per cent year-over-year—the city has been booming for the past decade," he said.

In the past, Macau readers consumed Hong Kong newspapers for their Macau business news. "With lots of foreigners, who cannot read Chinese and Portugese, coming to work and travel to Macau, they want to know more local Macau business news", he added.

Business Daily will be the first local English-language daily focusing specifically on the city’s business and political scenes, as well as the broader regional economy. The 16-page newspaper consists of two pages on China, one page on Asia, and 13 pages on Macau from Monday to Friday, including public holidays. Other local newspapers normally do not publish on holidays.

Azevedo also stated that Macau is not like Hong Kong, Singapore, the US or the UK, in that traditional media is still strongest by far. "Online publications will take some time to get stronger in Macau, as people here like to read in the traditional form," he said, adding that Business Daily will offer a digital version to support the newspaper.

De Ficção Multimedia Projects, the media arm of Project Asia Corporation, is independently owned and publishes Macau Business monthly magazine (in English) and Business Intelligence (in traditional Chinese).