Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2023年7月 亞博匯 40 COVER STORY AWS: Sticking with that topic, some have called this investment commitment a necessary evil to win the new concession for the next 10 years, but your Chairman and CEO, Rob Goldstein, recently came out and said he believes the non-gaming spend can be a viable business proposition. What would Sands China’s definition of success be in terms of return on that money? Dr Wong: Our definition would be that we continue as a profit- making entity and that hopefully in turn, when the time comes and we have enough time for the recovery, that we will see a return to profit that is similar to the level we have been able to achieve in the past. AWS: You spoke earlier about the company’s plan to expand its MICE facilities. What do you think are the main challenges for Macau in MICE compared to the traditional regional players such as Hong Kong and Singapore? Dr Wong: In the development of MICE, Macau used to have two constraints. One was the availability of hotel room inventory. Although the six operators have 26,000 rooms, many of them are reserved for [non-MICE] customers, so not all rooms are available. Second was transportation and connection to the world. We have a very small international airport, and we have to rely on Hong Kong International Airport, which in the past AWS：關於這個話題，有人稱這種投 資承諾是贏得未來10年新賭牌的必要 之舉，但貴公司主席及行政總裁Rob Goldstein最近表示，他相信非博彩支出 或是一個可行的商業主張。就這些投資 的回報而言，金沙中國會怎樣界定相關 投資是否成功？ 王英偉博士： 我們的定義是：我們公司 繼續獲得盈利，並希望待一切復常之 後，未來的業務盈利能恢復至過去的水 平。 AWS：您之前談及擴大公司會展設施的 計劃。您覺得與香港和新加坡相比，澳 門在會展領域面臨的主要挑戰是甚麼？ 王英偉博士： 澳門在發展會展業的時 候，曾有兩個制約因素。一個是酒店客 房量是否足夠。雖然六家營運商擁有 26,000間客房，但其中許多房間已被 旅客預訂，因此不可以同時提供所有房 間。其次是交通和與世界的聯繫。我們 的國際機場很小，必須依賴香港國際機 場，這意味著人們下機後須乘船才能到 達澳門。