Hengqin, the special economic zone in Zhuhai jointly controlled by Macau and Guangdong Province, could have capacity for 100,000 hotel rooms after a decade, according to Matthew Ossolinski, CEO of Hengqin-based advisory and business brokering firm GW Investment Consulting.
His comments feature in the cover story of Inside Asian Gaming’s July issue, which was published overnight on asgam.com with its digital edition to be distributed electronically later this morning. The cover story explores the role Hengqin will play going forward and the unique opportunity it presents for Macau’s concessionaires to expand their tourism reach.
Discussing the lack of space for significant expansion in Macau – home to around 40,000 hotel rooms – Ossolinski notes that there are currently around 10,000 hotel rooms in Hengqin but this number could eventually swell to 100,000 after the next decade if required.
“The idea is that Hengqin will add tens of thousands of rooms to Cotai’s hotel room inventory,” he said, “and [many of] those rooms are already being built.”
Ossolinski also welcomes early moves by Macau’s concessionaires to plant a flag in Hengqin with a view to launching development projects of their own in the near future.
While few of those concessionaires have yet been willing to announce details of those moves, Galaxy Entertainment Group is known to own a plot of land measuring around one square mile while Sands China was the first to open a large back office in Hengqin. Two more concessionaires are currently setting up back offices there, Ossolinksi revealed.
“For political reasons it’s a very astute thing for them to be looking at right now,” he explained in reference to the upcoming re-tendering for Macau gaming licenses.
“The biggest action a concessionaire can take to diversify Macau’s economy is to invest in a project in Hengqin, and multiple concessionaires are eying new projects there. However, concessionaire projects will likely only be publicly announced after receiving the green light from Macau’s Chief Executive.”
It is expected that most concessionaire projects will comprise hotel-resort style complexes with family entertainment included.
