Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Robert Goldstein said the vision of company founder Sheldon Adelson had been fulfilled following the Grand Opening of The Londoner Macao on Thursday.
The US$2 billion upgrade of what was previously Sands Cotai Central represents LVS subsidiary Sands China’s third themed resort in Macau following on from the success of neighboring The Venetian Macao and The Parisian Macao – all located on the Cotai Strip.
“What was once a 250-acre open space on Macau’s Cotai Strip is now a world-leading tourist destination, and the future is sure to be even greater,” said Goldstein in deference to Adelson.
“Sands China’s iconic building in Cotai, The Londoner, and our investment in non-gaming elements will have an even more positive effect on the future development of the Cotai Strip.”
Dr Miriam Adelson also spoke on stage and thanked her late husband, describing him as a man with the foresight to take an empty, reclaimed site and develop it into a world-renowned tourist hotspot.
Thursday’s Grand Opening ceremony was attended by Edmund Ho, the first Chief Executive of the Macau SAR and now Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Lei Wai Nong, Secretary for Economic and Finance; Patrick Dumont, President and COO of Las Vegas Sands; Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office; Dr Wilfred Wong, President of Sands China.; Grant Chum, COO and Executive Director of Sands China; and Dave Sun, Senior Vice President and CFO of Sands China and Managing Director of Venetian Macau Limited.
Also in attendance was Sands Global Ambassador and former English football star David Beckham, while there were performances by Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang, Hong Kong singer-songwriter G.E.M. and inner Mongolian vocalist Ayanga. British jazz vocal legend Jamie Cullum later performed for guests at a Gala Dinner.
The Londoner Macao further adds to Sands China’s considerable Cotai inventory, offering nearly 6,000 rooms and suites, three spas, four fitness centres and over 20 restaurants, with 150 of the world’s leading brands in store. High-end convention facility The Londoner Arena also opened Thursday with a capacity of 6,000 guests.
The design of the property nods to London, England, including a dramatic façade modeled after the Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament, a life-size replica of Big Ben that chimes every hour, a costumed “Changing of the Guard” performance inspired by the daily ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a glass-covered porte-cochère entrance modeled after a similar feature at London’s Victoria Station, the Crystal Palace atrium and a full-scale reproduction of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain with its Anteros Statue in London’s Piccadilly Circus.
