Sands China President Dr Wilfred Wong said Tuesday that ongoing investment into the development and enhancement of Macau’s tourism and integrated resort offerings is vital if the city hopes to compete with new IR offerings being built around Asia.
Delivering a Keynote Speech this morning to open G2E Asia at The Venetian Macao, Dr Wong noted that Sands China has committed to spend more than US$3.85 billion over the next 10 years as a part of its concession commitment to the Macau government, with at least 90% of that spend pegged for non-gaming facilities.
But with regional competition rapidly growing and new developments in the works in places like Japan and Thailand, he said such substantial investment into Macau’s future is vital to ensure it maintains its position as the integrated resort capital of the world.
“We are facing a lot of challenges,” he said. “Macau is but one destination in Asia and other Asian destinations are beginning to start building IRs, some of them already quite successful, including the Philippines.
“Japan has just approved [an IR in] Osaka and we are all watching eagerly what’s going to happen, because we all know that Japan is a very popular travel destination. Thailand has also announced that they would like to allow casinos to operate, and all of this at a time when the economy of Asia is recovering.
“Macau has the advantage of being a pioneer – we were here first – so we have to take advantage of that, which is why Sands China never stopped work during the pandemic.”
Sands China last month unveiled the fruits of those labors with the official opening of The Londoner Macao – a US$2 billion reimagining of the old Sands Cotai Central that has added a third themed resort to the company’s Macau assets.
The Londoner brings Sands’ Macau hotel room inventory to more than 12,000 and Macau’s to over 40,000, but Dr Wong notes such capacity gives Macau a competitive disadvantage compared to the likes of Singapore, with 60,000 rooms, and Las Vegas with 150,000.
It is for this reason that Macau must compete on quality, not quantity.
“We have to make sure that our inventory gets upgraded because in a few years’ time there will be more new hotels coming on stream,” Dr Wong said. “Marina Bay Sands, our own sister company, is revamping their hotel rooms, so by the time they finish, their rooms will be better than ours, and I don’t want to send all my customers to Marina Bay Sands. So, what we are going to do is continue to improve our inventory.
“Macau is a small place and we cannot compete just on numbers, so what do we compete on? Quality. We have to be the best in class, the best in service. And because we’re so close to our market – China is our market, Hong Kong is our market – we know what they want. We know their expectations and that’s what we are now trying to do.”
Ultimately, Dr Wong explained, the long-term goal is to make Macau so attractive as a tourism destination that even foreigners who have never considered a trip to the SAR are given irrefutable reason to do so.
“Sands China’s vision is to help the government transform Macau into a world center of tourism and leisure, to promote social and economic diversification and enhance the international reputation of Macau,” he said.
“This is very important because for the rest of the world, they don’t think about Macau. We’re too small. The total population of Macau is only 600,000 and a lot of the time when people think of travel destinations or organizing conventions, they think of other, bigger cities.
“So we need Macau to be to the at the forefront and make people remember that this is something special, that Macau is special.
“That’s why what we are doing is not just about promoting Sands China, it’s about promoting Macau as a whole. And that’s going to benefit us as the largest gaming and integrated resort operator in Macau. We stand to benefit when Macau is put up there on the [international] map.”
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