Is Gas Expensive? Not really, in comparison – Subsidized???

Gas prices around the world

Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you’d prefer to live in Venezuela.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S. The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc. In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation’s citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005. Nation City Price in USD Regular/Gallon Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48 Norway Oslo $6.27 Italy Milan $5.96 Denmark Copenhagen $5.93 Belgium Brussels $5.91 Sweden Stockholm $5.80 United Kingdom London $5.79 Germany Frankfurt $5.57 France Paris $5.54 Portugal Lisbon $5.35 Hungary Budapest $4.94 Luxembourg   $4.82 Croatia Zagreb $4.81 Ireland Dublin $4.78 Switzerland Geneva $4.74 Spain Madrid $4.55 Japan Tokyo $4.24 Czech Republic Prague $4.19 Romania Bucharest $4.09 Andorra   $4.08 Estonia Tallinn $3.62 Bulgaria Sofia $3.52 Brazil Brasilia $3.12 Cuba Havana $3.03 Taiwan Taipei $2.84 Lebanon Beirut $2.63 South Africa Johannesburg $2.62 Nicaragua Managua $2.61 Panama Panama City $2.19 Russia Moscow $2.10 Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74 Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91 Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78 Egypt Cairo $0.65 Nigeria Lagos $0.38 Venezuela Caracas $0.12 Source: air-inc.com

Macau On Target for 30 Million Visitors in 2008

ARTICLE

Written on May 1, 2008 by MacauDailyBlog.com

“Macau received 7.5 million visitors in the first quarter of 2008, which was a rise of 17.9 percent against the same period of 2007.

The number of visitors from mainland China was 4.38 million, which was a rise of 22.6 percent, while the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia rose 3.3 and 63.3 percent, respectively.

In March, the total number of visitors to Macau was 2.7 million, which was a rise of 25.6 percent year on year.

Visitors arriving in Macau were mainly from mainland China (57.7 percent of the total), followed by those from Hong Kong (27.4 percent).

In 2007 Macau had 27 million visitors, as compared with 22 million in 2006.”

85% of visitors were Chinese citizens!!! THE GROWTH – From the rest of the World and more Chinese as they get more disposable RMB in their pockets…