How Marina IR can change S'pore tourism

How Marina IR can change S'pore tourism

INTEGRATED resort Marina Bay Sands will probably take three to seven years to reach a capacity that can help spur Singapore's tourism and convention industries, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

This length of time will be necessary because the resort is a very big project, he said.

Marina Bay Sands cost its owner, American casino-resort company Las Vegas Sands, US$5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion). People also have to come and see the resort for themselves and enjoy it before word of mouth can help bring in more customers, MM Lee noted.

He said: "Word has got to spread. And it can't spread at just one news conference or one display." But once it is running at full steam, it will increase the number of visitors who come here for conventions, and the amount of tourism trade, by many times, he said. By that time, it will also "transform the nightlife of Singapore", he said.

He was speaking to journalists during his first official visit to Marina Bay Sands yesterday, ahead of its opening today. He added that he wanted to visit the resort because he was interested to see "what are the bare-bone workings of it", so that he can form his own impressions of what he thought would be its chances of succeeding.

Mr Sheldon Adelson, the chairman of Las Vegas Sands, said that Mr Lee was being "a little too pessimistic". He said: "We'll be up and running at full speed by next year. A property like (Marina Bay Sands)...normally will take about a year to ramp (up)."

On the delay of Marina Bay Sands' opening, he said: "When you build a new property like this, everybody says (it'll) never open on time. But a property like this has to open in phases. We'll ramp up and do extremely well. The indications are very positive."

Originally, Marina Bay Sands was to have opened at the end of last year, but its first phase opened only on April 27. But Mr Adelson agreed that Mr Lee was right about the need for word on the development to get out so that people will get to know about it.

-News courtesy of Omy-