Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | Oct 2007 22 to DB,“a series of large-scale sporting events featuring world-class athletes will be hosted at the Venetian over the next three months. The events, whilst being centered on the launch of the enclave’s first integrated desti- nation resort,are aimed at promoting Macau as a prime location for sports and entertain- ment events in the region.” Retail will be another big draw at The Ve- netian Macao and other coming Macau IRs. Prior to The Venetian opening, all of Macau had a mere 330,000 sq. ft of retail space.The Venetian alone boasts three times that much capacity, and the development of other mega resorts and stand alone retail is expected to raise the total to six million sq. ft before the end of the decade, according to research by retail developer Taubman Asia. Half the new capacity will be provided by LVS on Cotai. Total retail spending in Macau is cur- rently a tiny fraction of the amount gener- ated in neighboring Hong Kong. Given the coming supply of greater entertainment and cheaper quality accommodation in Macau, analysts see potential for Macau to take over from Hong Kong as the preferred shopping destination for mainland Chinese travelers. Singapore swing DB points out the two integrated resorts in Singapore—The Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa—are specifically designed to attract both the convention and holiday tourist crowds. Singapore was ranked ‘Top Convention City in Asia’for the eighth time and third best in the world, according to the 2006 Interna- tional Congress and Convention Association Global Rankings. The Marina Bay Sands will add 1.2 million sq. ft of convention space to Singapore’s inventory when the resort is completed in late 2009,taking the city state’s total to more than 2.5 million sq. ft by 2010 says DB. In 2006, business and MICE visitors con- stituted approximately 28% of Singapore’s visitor arrivals and accounted for 35% of the more than S$4 billion (US$2.69 billion) worth of total tourism receipts, says the bank. “Under the Tourism 2015 blueprint, the Singapore government aims to raise the tourism receipts contribution of its BTMICE (Business Travel MICE) sector to S$10.5 billion—35% of tourism receipts,” says DB’s report. ResortsWorld at Sentosa is pitching itself more as a tourist attraction, with South East Asia’s first Universal Studios complex. It will have 22 rides—at least 16 of them specially designed for Singapore—and is expected to draw five million visitors annually. Because of the restrictions on the gaming floor space, DB estimates non-gaming revenues will ac- count for 28-35% of the income for each of the two integrated resorts in Singapore. Profitable Malaysia Malaysia’s only legal casino, Casino de Genting at Genting Highlands Resort (now popularly known as City of Entertainment), has 450 tables and 3,300 slots. Most of the patrons are from Malaysia’s 23% ethnic Chi- nese population or are foreign tourists as the Malay majority community are barred as Muslims from entering.Largely as a response to this demographic challenge, Genting has over the years broadened its entertainment facilities for non-gamblers to include 10,000 hotel rooms, a mid-size convention centre with a 20,000 sq. ft hall and 22,375 sq. ft of meeting space, as well as shows and con- certs, theme parks, shops and more than 50 food and beverage outlets, including fine restaurants. As discussed elsewhere in this edition, DB says this mix has pushed up the Malay- sian resort’s annual non-gaming revenue to 19% and made it a higher earning IR site than any property in either the Las Vegas Strip or Macau before interest, taxes, depre- ciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are taken into account. DB also made adjustments in Supercasinos