Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming August 2016 20 Feature In Focus With Las Vegas preparing an ambitious city-wide makeover to cap its latest economic recovery, Genting’s Chinese-themed giant Resorts World Las Vegas looks set to shine brightest of all By James Rutherford I f you like Las Vegas then you like the prospects for Resorts World Las Vegas, theUS$4 billion Chinese-themed destination Genting Group plans to open on the Strip from 2019. And it’s pretty hard not to like Vegas right now. Since the worst of the Great Recession in 2009, visitor volume has been growing steadily at better than 2.5% a year. At 42.3 million visitors in 2015, the city blew past its pre-recession peak by more than 3 million, setting a new record and one that could well be broken again this year based on early totals compiled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. For a destination where 99% of arrivals stay overnight, this is the breath of life itself. Last year, it amounted to 47.9 million total room nights occupied at an average stay of 4.4 days and 3.4 nights, the longest in four years. Significantly, the number of convention and trade show attendees – a critical market for the big Strip resorts – is in robust growth mode as well, up more than 13% year-on-year in 2015 amid annual growth of nearly 5% over the last six years. Hotel occupancy has bounced back to almost pre-recession highs. It reached 89.8% last year, the best since 2007. It’s at 90% currently, LVCVA numbers show. As a result, room rates are regaining ballast. Research by Macquarie Capital (USA) indicates ADR citywide last year had rebounded by 28% over 2009 and by 39% on the Strip. Through May, the ADR of US$128 citywide was ahead of last year’s by 7.5%. On the Strip it stood at $138. With the return of pricing power, revenues are ticking upward. Revenue per available room, a key measure of hotel profitability, was up 4.4% year-on-year in 2015 and is on pace to exceed that this year. The importance of this speaks rising Red An artist’s impression of Resorts World Las Vegas