Singaporean first casino-resort partially opens as city-state tries to boost services

Singaporean first casino-resort partially opened Wednesday, a key part of a government plan to reduce reliance on manufacturing and brand the tightly controlled city-state as a cosmopolitan Asian capital. Its 7,300-seat ballroom, one of Asian largest, will host its first event at the end of this month.

Even then, Resorts World said it will be working with partners to meet future demand.
A rousing fanfare greeted visitors to hotels at Resorts World Sentosa built at a cost of us$ 4.4 billion. The resort said hotel bookings so far have been brisk even though other key attractions are not yet ready. The guests are mainly from Singapore now, but Resorts World expects six in 10 visitors from overseas moving forward. Of these, a quarter will be from China.

Andrew Hickey, VP of Rooms, Resorts World Sentosa, said: “We have 5,000 room nights booked in the first three days and our call centres have been opened. The booking pattern is very strong, lots of interest from the overseas travel trade. For Chinese New Year they are already fully booked. The weekend is very popular. We are looking at 80 % for the weekend coming up. That will fill as well as every other weekend.” The four hotels offer 1,350 rooms. Another 500 rooms will come next year when two more hotels and a spa are opened.

Even then, Resorts World said more rooms will be needed and it's working with hotel partners in Singapore to meet demand. After the hotels will come the retail malls followed by the Universal Studios theme park and a casino.

With the phased-in opening now underway in Singapore, Genting Group will be eyeing other investment opportunities going forward. They include those in the US and another attraction comprising hotels, a theme park and premium outlets in Iskandar, Johor.

Genting has dismissed suggestions that Resorts World would cannibalise its business in Malaysia. Lim Kok Thay, chairman, Genting, said: “What is happening here in Sentosa will grow the cake especially in terms of the gaming business. Both sets of marketing teams have sat down and are working closely with each other to see how we can benefit through joint marketing.”

Genting said the Iskandar project will centre around the premium outlets. It has invested over us$ 57.5 million in a joint venture to develop a shopping complex there and Genting said the total investment is expected to be phased out over a couple of years. It also said a decision by Universal Studios to build Asian largest theme park in South Korea is unlikely to hurt its business in Singapore.

Lim added: "It is good for the industry overall. It does add to the strength of the Universal brand and that is good for all the theme parks that comes under that brand name. So if you visit Korea, you would get curious about the park here in Singapore."

Universal Studios had signed a us$ 2.67 billion deal with 15 South Korean partners to develop the theme park in Gyeonggi prefecture on Tuesday. It is expected to be operational in 2012.

Phase 2 of construction at the Sentosa resort has started and is due to be completed by next year. These include a Marine Life Park and a Maritime museum. Singaporean second integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands located in the downtown area, is expected to open by the end of the first quarter.

Both Genting and Marina Bay Sands are eyeing Asia's high-roller market - an endeavour Singapore facilitates with its 12 % tax on net revenue from big-money gamblers, compared with Macau's 39 %. Genting expects tourists to make up 60 % of visitors to its casino with up to a quarter of those tourists to come from China.