Genting Singapore says it doesn’t expect the opening of Singapore’s borders to visitors from select countries to benefit Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) any time soon, warning it could in fact have the opposite result on visitation.
The comments formed part of the company’s 3Q21 results announcement on Tuesday, with revenue at RWS down 16% year-on-year and 9% quarter-on-quarter to SG$251.5 million (US$186.8 million). Gaming revenue at RWS fell 14% versus the June quarter to SG$194.7 million (US$144.6 million) while Adjusted EBITDA fell 31% to SG$102.5 million (US$76.1 million) due to enhanced safe management measures introduced to curb the recent surge of new COVID-19 community cases.
Singapore this month took its first major step towards a full reopening of its international borders with the launch of a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme allowing fully vaccinated visitors from 12 countries – the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Brunei – to enter without having to quarantine.
Genting Singapore said Tuesday it is “encouraged” by the implementation of VTL and called it a “significant milestone in the opening of our borders.”
But the company added, “In the short term we expect minimal increase in overseas visitors’ footfall as the countries designated for this quarantine-free travel are from non-traditional source markets. At the same time, there may be an impact on the IR’s visitorship from an outflow of the local population to these countries due to the pent-up demand for international travel.”
The announcement did not reference this week’s news that flights between Singapore and its closest neighbor Malaysia will resume from 29 November, however industry experts told IAGthat Singapore’s IRs will enjoy greater benefit when land borders with Malaysia reopen as these are how most mass market customers traditionally arrive. Malaysian customers account for around 25% of Singapore’s mass GGR.
On a more positive note, non-gaming revenue showed strong improvement in Q3, rising 12% from the June quarter to SG$50.3 million (US$37.4 million).
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