Source : Straits Times - 29 Aug 2008
DARK clouds may be looming over Singapore’s tourism landscape, but the company behind the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort (IR) is not worried.
The reason: Unlike IRs elsewhere, which focus mainly on their casino operations, the Marina Bay Sands will devote much of its space and effort to attracting business from the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition sector, also known as Mice.
This, said Las Vegas Sands’ group president William Weidner yesterday, means that business will still be good despite the gloomy outlook, because even when economic times are tough, ‘meetings continue to take place’.
Speaking after a ceremony to mark the opening of new 360-room Four Seasons Macao, he said that the aim of the US$4.5 billion (S$6.3 billion) IR is to be ‘the meeting facility for the region’.
Marina Bay Sands, which opens next year and features a 1.2 million sq ft convention centre, is already in talks with about 30 exhibitors and organisers of about 40 meetings and conferences to bring events to Singapore.
The group’s chairman and chief executive officer, Mr Sheldon Adelson, added that the IR has 240 meeting rooms - equal to the combined number of Singapore’s top 30 to 40 hotels.
Mr Stephen Weaver, the group’s president of the Asian region, said Singapore’s existing reputation as a Mice destination as well as its strong air links make it an easier destination to sell than Macau.
The Sands’ bigwigs were reacting to news of setbacks to tourism growth in Singapore in recent months.
After setting tourist arrival records for more than a year, growth in April and May slowed to 0.8 per cent year-on-year.
In June and July, the numbers were lower than those in the same months last year.
More worryingly, arrivals from 11 of the top 15 visitor-generating markets declined compared to last year.
Still, Las Vegas Sands continues to be ‘bullish’, top executives said yesterday.
Asked about budget overruns, Mr Weidner said the US$1 billion rise in construction costs was not surprising, judging by what is happening globally. The net effect, he said, would just be that it would take longer to make back the money.
The IR is expected to open on schedule in the last quarter of next year. It has started ramping up the hiring of senior management, and plans to hire 10,000 staff for the resort in the middle of next year.
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