Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | November 2013 8 M acau officials expect at least 5 million more tourists will make their way to the SAR from the People’s Republic as commercial and residential development picks up steam on neighboring Hengqin Island. The first wave of them will be appearing in the weeks ahead when a “Chinese Disneyland” replete with theme park, thrill rides and the first of a dozen planned hotels opens there. More important than the tourists for Macau’s near-term purposes are the hotel rooms, and there are 1,880 of them as part of this project—Chimelong Group’s RMB10 billion (US$1.64 billion) Hengqin Bay Hotel and Ocean Kingdom, which towers over an ancient oyster fishery along Fuxiang Bay at the southeastern tip of the island and whose attractions include the largest roller coaster in China and a 24,000-cubic-ton aquarium billed as the largest in the world. Some of this is supposed to open before the end of the year, possibly this month, as the first phase of a RMB20 billion-plus Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, the “Disneyland” China already has, and at nine square kilometers the largest amusement park in the country, not to mention one of 66 attractions rated “AAAAA” by the National Tourism Administration, right up there with the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Shaolin, the Three Gorges, the Terracotta Warriors and theYellow Emperor’s Tomb. The park drew 13 million visitors last year, helped along by its location on the High Speed Rail running through Guangzhou South Station. The gaming analysts at Citi Research, a division of investment bankers Citigroup Isle Seat Macau needs Hengqin. Badly. The city doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for its millions of visitors and has no more unclaimed or undeveloped land for building them. Hengqin has plenty of both. COVER STORY “Visitation to Macau in recent years, quarters, has trailed that of the growth in betting. It’s betting that’s gone up fast over and above visitation. And that’s not a healthy trend.” Philip Tulk, director of equities research, Standard Chartered Bank mega-entertainment and leisure complex— Chimelong International Ocean Resort— that is conceived along the lines of a Chinese Orlando and which in addition to the hotels will feature an array of theme parks with names like Safari Zoo, Global Garden, Bird’s World, International Ocean Theatre and Mountaintop Paradise. The whole thing will cover five square kilometers. Plans include three 18-hole golf courses, shopping malls, convention and meeting facilities, a yacht club or two and scenic rides on elevated cable cars. Chimelong is the company behind Photos by Gary Wong