Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2016 14 Cover Story 170 outlets over 28,000 square meters on two levels, features “more affordable, more approachable” brands. Morningstar’s Chelsey Tam sees it a bit differently: “The Parisian’s retail area is intended to have more fashion forward brands with a premium mass positioning, different from Venetian’s more affordable positioning and Four Seasons’ high-end positioning. We saw many brands in The Parisian that do not already have a store in other Sands China properties – for example, McQ Alexander McQueen, Maje, Sandro, and J. Lindeberg. Thus, it should be able to offer tourists a somewhat differentiated shopping experience.” STAGING CHINA The 1,200 seat Parisian Theatre furthers Mr Adelson’s goal of making Cotai “the center of entertainment in Asia for Asians.” Management tells Bernstein it mainly plans to book Chinese acts to drive visitor traffic, especially on weekends. However, Parisian’s first show is Thriller Live, a Michael Jackson tribute musical from London’s West End. Reinforcing that Paris theme, the property’s streetmosphere performers include mimes, French themed living statues, late 19th century costumed characters, can-can dancers, opera and popular singers, musicians and even caricaturists to sketch you in charcoal on a folding easel. Performances take place throughout the resort, centered on the retail area. The Parisian has family entertainment elements practically de rigueur for Cotai resorts, here with French accents. Open to hotel guests and visitors, Qube Kingdom has indoor and outdoor play areas with a carousel for all ages copied from Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens. Aqua World water park, open April through November, pays homage to a pair of French icons. Its Marie Antoinette Tower recreates the French queen’s lakefront retreat at Chateau Versailles, adding a pair of giant tunnel slides. The Jules Verne Airship combines the balloon from the French science fiction pioneer’s Around the World in Eighty Days and the Albatross from Robur the Conqueror. Both attractions are on the level six podium, alongside the hotel pool with a windmill recalling the Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre, famously painted by van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir. The entire podium presents excellent views of Macau’s Eiffel Tower. “The Parisian symbolizes a perfect casino resort: a grind mass focused thematic destination like The Venetian, playing on Chinese love for Paris/Europe, with 3,000 relatively cheap rooms to lure overnighters,” Morgan Stanley writes. But even perfection isn’t what it used to be. Morgan Stanley adds, “We believe that The Parisian’s strengths are not enough to drive more than 10% [year on year] growth in the mass segment [in the second half of 2016 through 2017], in view of falling spending per capita.” Recovery in the global gaming capital will be written as a tale of two cities. The cities aren’t Venice and Paris, but Macau and Beijing.