Travellers International Holdings Inc, the joint venture controlled by Genting Bhd and the Philippines’ Alliance Global Group remains confident that the Philippines will continue to get robust returns, even as Macau continues its tailspin amidst China’s continued crackdown against corruption.

In an interview last week, Alliance Global Chairman Andrew Tan spoke about the status of the Philippine’s gambling industry, emphasizing that it would remain insulated from Macau’s current woes because the former is catering to a different market.

Tan said that the Philippines’ isn’t as reliant on the high-roller segment as Macau is but more on the growing mass-market segment in the region.

“We don’t have [the VIP] segment of the market here and I think that ultra-high rollers now are thinning out that’s why their [Macau] growth has been slow last year,” Tan said.

Instead, the Philippines’ strategy of attracting what Tan described as “regular customers” could be more than enough to keep the gambling industry in the country as healthy as it can be. A key strategy in the Philippines is to build a stout tourism infrastructure that will be heavily complemented by the gambling industry.

“That traveler market is still growing with so many hotels being built now,” Ta pointed out. “In the industry, all of us have been building quite a number of hotels, giving a lot of room and opportunity for more tourists to come,” he added.

With so many destination options for tourists all over the world, Tan believes that the Philippine gambling industry is well-poised to take full advantage of these benefits, allowing it to attract a trove of mass-market gamblers to help offset the lack of high-rollers, at least compared to the number of VIP gamblers Macau still attracts given its current situation.