Casino hubs Macau, Las Vegas, use art to draw visitors from around the world

With the five-month Art Macao event now drawing to a close, the Macau government has been quick to call it a success. The wide-ranging event saw 21 international art exhibitions, 6 outdoor art installations, 11 large-scale performances and 3 international youth festivals presented at more than 50 locations across the city. The gambling industry prominently participated in the event, helping to bring some of the most notable exhibitions to Macau, and the city’s Cultural Affairs Bureau has claimed that more than 16 million of the 17 million visitors during that time period participated in the city-wide event. While the Bureau’s definition of ‘participate’ may be relatively loose, Macau is clearly growing into its new image as a hub of fine art, much as Las Vegas is doing across the Pacific.