Singapore's first casino resort on track to open late 2009

At least half of the Marina Bay Sands complex, which is located in Singapore’s financial district, will be operating commercially at the end of 2009, company officials said at a media briefing.

"I can assure you that what we open in the initial phase of it will be a fully fledged integrated resort that is compelling from a tourism standpoint and something that Singapore can be proud of," the resort’s general manager George Tanasijevich said.

"We are going to be looking to really accelerate the tourism figures and the visitation numbers that you see coming into Singapore already," he said.

Company executives said they were confident the casino resort’s opening would not be affected by the economic downturn. The resort is one of two casino projects under development in Singapore. A second one is being built on nearby Sentosa island, which has beach, golf and yachting facilities.

Singapore in 2005 gave the approval for casinos to be developed in a bid to draw more visitors to the city-state, whose main attractions are shopping, dining, night life and animal parks.

The Marina Bay Sands, with an investment cost of over 5.0 billion US dollars, was Singapore’s first casino project to be awarded, in 2006. Apart from gaming, the complex will also include hotel, convention, luxury retail and performing arts facilities.

Singapore visitor arrivals fell almost 13 % in January to 771,000 from from 885,000 a year ago, while economic output is officially forecast to shrink by two to five percent in 2009.