The cultural and creative industries are the Macau government’s latest attempt to diversify the casino-dominated economy. If that is to happen, there is still much to be done, as we report in this issue of Macau Business.
For starters, what does the concept mean?
According to UNESCO, cultural industries “are defined as those industries which produce tangible or intangible artistic and creative outputs, and which have a potential for wealth creation and income generation through the exploitation of cultural assets and production of knowledge-based goods and services (both traditional and contemporary)”.
Unlike Hong Kong, in Macau there is no official estimate of the cultural and creative industries’ contribution to the economy. It is easy to conclude that Macau currently does not have enough people engaged in producing artistic and creative products to give the sector any real weight in terms of job creation.
Further, the wealth creation and income generation from these activities is at very low levels. Most of the cultural and creative production taking place in Macau is as a hobby or a second job, not as the primary source of income.
However, the most troubling question has not yet been asked: is there a market for cultural and creative products made in Macau? Experience says one needs to be cautious, to say the least. Several projects in the cultural industries, including fashion clothing design, film, video and other audiovisual production, live music, performing arts and entertainment, visual arts, antiques, writing and publishing have struggled to survive. Many closed because of lack of demand.

Potential but no vision
It is clear that Macau, with its rich history and mix of cultures, does have some potential to develop cultural industries, especially those in which inspiration is derived from heritage.
The question is whether that potential is enough to allow real economic diversification, as the government hopes. There is just too much doubt about whether the sector will be worth a relevant slice of Macau’s GDP any time soon.
Even taking an optimistic perspective, greater government involvement would be required if the idea was to take off. At this stage, the chief executive and his team are just not putting enough effort or cash into it. There is neither a strategy nor even a clear choice of which areas to promote and which to ditch.
Macau, with loads of money and proper planning, coupled with the importation of highly skilled labour, could potentially trigger the creation of a small but highly competitive local creative cluster relatively swiftly. This would first need vision, which is currently in short supply.

Where are the MICE?
Poor planning is seen not only in the cultural and creative field.
The bet previously backed by the government to promote economic diversification was the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry. Here too, the lack of an aggressive strategy to position Macau in such a highly competitive market has meant that the city still lags behind its competitors in the region.
However, if we compare cultural industries to the conventions and exhibitions industry, the latter offers greater potential for economic diversification in Macau. This is because its value chain is closely linked with that of the hospitality sector, which has expanded rapidly over recent years to support the boom in the gaming industry.
Macau does need to push forward a cluster of cultural industries but not for its potential economic role. Cultural industries are sorely needed here for their crucial role in identity building and for their contribution to freedom of expression and cultural diversity. In short, they could help Macau recover the soul it seems to have lost in pursuit of fast economic growth.