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based Harbinger Advisers. “On its own, that’s a multimillion dollar company.” Mr Arasi cautions against integrat-


ing resorts too deeply. “Some people don’t want to be part of some environ- ments,” he says. “The gaming elements are ring-fenced in Singapore.” In con- trast, the Venetian Macao follows Las Vegas custom, so it is almost impossible to avoid walking through the casino to get around the resort. Non-gaming attractions also broad-


en the appeal of a casino resort. “The high roller might not go to Universal Studios but his wife and kids might,” Resorts World Sentosa central zone op- erations director Jason Horkin says, not- ing that the theme park hosts VIP visits daily. “If I’m a high roller, I want to be left alone to gamble. If you have more offerings for my family, maybe I play longer. Maybe I come more frequently.”


Bottom line, not headlines The attention won by components in resorts is not necessarily indicative of their importance to pro tability. It is not theme parks and big ticket shows but


CREATING A GLOBAL


DESTINATION A


fter arriving from Las Vegas, Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. vice-pres-


ident for customer relationship manage- ment, loyalty and pro t optimisation Steven Pinchuk thought of the legendary Land of Oz when he saw the non-gaming numbers in Macau. “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Mr Pinchuk realised. City of Dreams, home to the US$250


million (MOP2 billion) House of Danc- ing Water show, three hotels, nightspot Club Cubic, and an array of events and meetings and incentives, clocks in with 8 percent non-gaming revenue. Mr Pinchuk believes he knows why.


“An integrated resort needs to be in a major international destination market to succeed,” he says. Tourist numbers due later this month


will likely show Macau set a record with more than 27 million visitors last year but tourists are still overwhelmingly from Greater China, with the concentration growing as mainland arrivals surge. The city remains a regional rather than an international destination. A major global travel destination


offers a diverse visitor base to patronise the range of attractions casino resorts offer, plus the infrastructure to support large scale conferences and exhibitions, a key to boosting non-gaming revenues, according to experts. Singapore’s resorts record non-


“Voyage de la Vie” resident show - Resorts World Sentosa


gaming revenues of 22 percent, compared with 11 percent for all Macau operators, according to the latest  nan- cial reports. Singapore’s higher number is the product of government policies to promote non-gaming revenue multi- plied by its longstanding status as an


international travel hub, even though it registered about 13 million visitor arriv- als last year, less than half of Macau’s total. “The resorts are part of a larger


tourism eco-system supported by a vibrant and pro-business environment and reliable infrastructure,” Singapore Tourism Board executive director for resorts Carrie Kwik tells Macau Busi- ness. “Other upcoming projects such as the international cruise terminal, Gardens by the Bay, the world’s  rst river safari, and the National Art Gallery, will complement the integrated resorts by further expanding our repertoire of offerings, deepening our value propo- sition and attracting new and repeat visitors to Singapore,” she says. Despite those advantages, plus a


local market that is ten times the size of Macau, Singapore’s percentage of non-gaming revenue is still far from the 60 percent-plus of Las Vegas. Melco Crown co-chief operating


of cer for operations Nicholas Naples acknowledges a “resort is much more likely to succeed in a destination that is already known as a major international travel destination”. His job is to make City of Dreams – and in the future a second casino resort at Macau Studio City – succeed in Cotai. “In the case of Cotai, we will require


other infrastructure before it can com- pete with other established interna- tional destination resorts,” Mr Naples says. “Rome was not built in a day, even Las Vegas and Atlantic City had to go through this process to get to where they are today.”


JANUARY 2012


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