Incentive arena
ECONOMIC TRANSITION INEVITABLY COMES WITH UNCERTAINTY, and venues in Cotai are adjusting their services and products to test new markets. This ranges from more Indian restaurants and menus to cater to one growing market, to concerts and sports events to attract new, younger audiences. What is more certain is that Cotai, the area of reclaimed land where Sands first opened The Venetian in 2007, followed by Melco’s City of Dreams and Galaxy – has become an entertainment hub. The post-meeting entertainment market for groups will be hotting up, with vendors able to arrange VIP experiences and corporate hospitality. When Studio City Macau opened in October 2015, the resort’s 5,000-seat event centre debuted the following February with “queen of pop”
Madonna (right). This has placed the venue on a firm footing to compete with the Venetian’s Cotai Arena, which has built a dazzling catalogue of top events ranging from the Rolling Stones, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and world champion boxing, to basketball, Canto-pop and huge incentive gatherings. Studio City Events Centre, along with a 900 sqm hi-tech TV recording facility – Studio 8 – is also being geared towards event and incentive planners. A group of corporate buyers was recently shown the arena’s corporate hospitality operation, which covers 16 second-level private boxes; 14 with 12 seats and two 25-seaters. The VIP experience included a concert by Taiwan “Mando-pop” stars Christine Fan and Jam Hsiao. Studio City Event Centre is offering corporate
branding for boxes during concerts and events at the arena. Meanwhile, Studio City’s sister property, City of Dreams, has already established the House of Dancing Water as a prime fixture on the Cotai entertainment circuit. Now the VIP-arena
experience is being positioned
along with Studio City’s other unique offerings for MICE groups. These include priority use of the attractions such as the figure-8 Golden Reel, the Batman Dark Flight experience, followed by dining, and The House of Magic by Franz Harary, which consists of three theatres that can be booked for groups.
In anticipation of the bridge’s completion in 2017, exhibition and conference centre officials in Zhuhai and Hong Kong have signed agreements to co-operate on the promotion of a “MICE expotainment belt” that would arise from a more economically integrated Pearl River Delta region that includes Macau and the neighbouring island of Hengqin.
“Mega” business events have already been tried and tested on Cotai Strip with immense success – by Nu Skin, Herbalife and Flight Centre among others. But organisers and suppliers are preparing for the future, establishing the Macau Meetings, Incentives and Special Events Association (MISE) in March to help lift Macau’s profile internationally
“Instead of having to sell the destination, I am now actually being approached by people who want to hold their events in Macau”
Allen Ha, chief executive of Hong Kong’s
Asia World Expo, says the agreement will provide organisers with an opportunity to run events across the delta, with leisure and tourism options in Hengqin and Macau accessible thanks to the bridge. Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, the owners of Sands China, also described the bridge as a “catalyst” for the MICE industry in the region.
114 BBT September/October 2016
as an events destination and to raise professional standards locally. “We have come a long way in terms of working together with all of the suppliers and the local Macau government to collaboratively promote the destination,” says Janssen. “An illustration of this is with the recent creation of the MISE association, whose primary objective is destination promotion.”
The government’s vision of a mega-events city coincides with more resort openings in Cotai, including Wynn Palace in August and Sands China’s The Parisian Macao in September. This comes as casino revenues have fallen over the past two years, with China issuing fewer visas to nationals heading for Macau.
Another major factor coming into play – and seen as a boon to Macau’s bid to diversify its economy – is the development of Hengqin. The 106 sqkm island between Taipa and Zhuhai has been zoned for non- gaming development and already features aqua- and circus-themed resorts aimed at the leisure market. In a nod towards those objectives, Sands China reacted swiftly to a mid-term government review of the gaming industry in May, saying Sands is “committed to contributing to the development of Macau into a world centre of tourism and leisure and to contributing to the successful diversification of Macau”
This feature was originally published by BBT’s sister title Mix, Asia’s leading meetings & events magazine
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