Las Vegas Sands Promotes Marina Bay Integrated Resort

Las Vegas Sands has begun its marketing campaign for the Marina Bay integrated resort (IR), which is expected to open in 2009.

Hospitality services offered at Marina Bay IR include hotels, exhibition and convention centres, casino, etc.

At an exhibition in Singapore, Sands' Asian arm, Venetian Macau, proudly showcased the Marina Bay project together with other Venetian Macau projects currently being developed in China.

Marina Bay IR is sprawled on a 50.9-acre waterfront site within the vicinity of Singapore's financial district.

Venetian Macau Executive Director John Catt said "Las Vegas will be developing its plans and yes, we will provide information as much as possible to those people who will be interested. It's a very exciting opportunity for most people and a lot of people naturally want to get in at the beginning."

Catt added "Macau and Singapore are two distinct regions with their own catchment areas for business...We don't it see it as cannibalising. Quite the opposite, we see it as complementing and supplementing one another."

Sands is known as one of the most active players in the Asian hotels and casino scene. Meanwhile, its subsidiary, Venetian Macau, is developing a US $3-billion leisure and gaming complex on the Cotai Strip in Macau.

Once established, the Marina Bay IR project is expected to contribute to the rising of Singapore's economy by about 0.8 percentage points as tourism arrivals and receipts can potential add S$2.7 billion to the gross domestic product.