32 Lee Choong Yan
PRESIDENT AND COO
Genting Malaysia
CLAIMS TO FAME
• Overseeing RM10 billion facelift of Genting’s original hilltop resort
• Corporate portfolio includes properties in New York, Bahamas and UK
POWER SCORE 834 LAST YEAR 24
Opened as Genting Highlands Resort nearly 50 years ago, Resorts World Genting is harvesting the fruits of its RM10 billion (US$2.5 billion) Genting Integrated Tourism Program. Lee Choong Yan, a 20-year company veteran, tends a garden of gaming related assets in the Bahamas and UK, plus Resorts World New York City, itself undergoing major expansion. Overall, Genting Malaysia contributed 41% of first half EBITDA in Genting Group’s core leisure and hospitality sector.
Last December, RW Genting opened its new Awana SkyWay cable car, traversing 2.8 kilometers (1.75 miles) to reach the 1,800-meter (6,000 foot) high resort, a route now bracketed with retail: Genting Highlands Premium Outlets at the base and, at the summit, SkyAvenue, a 130,000-square meter (1.4 million square foot) mall opening in phases through next year. Also expected next year is the world’s first Twentieth Century Fox World plus an indoor theme park. The investments aim to make RW Genting, already with 10,000 hotel rooms and 20 million annual visitors, a regional destination resort for Southeast Asia.
In New York, just north of JFK International Airport, RWNYC broke ground in July on a two year, US$400 million expansion of its 5,500 machine ETG parlor, adding a 400-room hotel, dining and retail.
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