Sands China is all set to transform the Sands Cotai Central complex into ‘The Londoner Macao’. Like the other popular properties Venetian Macao which is Italian themed and The Parisian Macao which is French themed, this new property will be English themed with suites and attractions.
Speaking about the development plans Stephanie Tanpure, Vice President of Sales, Sands China said, “We are now transforming the Sands Cotai Central into The Londoner Macao, which will be British themed. The property will have some of the most recognisable landmarks from London and more attractions will be added. This will really help visitation in Macau and will be a game changer for us. We are still working on the details of the property. As part of the Londoner we will have a Londoner Hotel which we are working on.”
India is amongst the top five source market for The Sands Resorts Macao, with a tremendous growth year on year. The Venetian Macao has stood out as the most popular property amongst the Indians.
Tanpure said, “We have seen some fabulous results from the India market. India is within our top five markets. In terms of visitor arrival in the first quarter of this year, Macao Government has seen a 7.9 per cent in Indian arrivals. This clearly is seen within the hotels also and has strong results not only in MICE but also the FIT segment. The Venetian is the favourite amongst the Indian travellers and the Parisian Macau is also being well accepted in India. Indians are taking more interest in the family suites; a lot of tourists are staying here and exploring other properties. We are here to further promote this property.
Recently as part of a of a six-month, 15-city roadshow, Sands Resorts Macao hosted cocktail and dinner events in Mumbai and New Delhi to introduce the integrated resort’s newest offerings to the travel industry, meeting organisers and media partners, while at the same time thanking them for their continued support.
Tanpure said, ““We make sure that we always reinvent ourselves for the India market. Meeting face to face to bring our partners up to date on all our developments is vitally important in communicating a shared vision and we are grateful for this opportunity. Also, the MICE market is very important for us. We promote it through the Ultimate Download platform; we have seen a lot of success with results from this event in India market. If we look year-on-year, the average size of Indian MICE groups have doubled in size and we have seen a threefold increase in spend, f&b and attractions. As part of that travellers are coming with higher propensity to spend in guest rooms and suites which has surely given rise to demand for luxury properties. We are seeing Indian travellers exploring our entire portfolio.”
In terms of trends, Sands Resort Macao has witnessed significant growth from the tier II markets. “We are seeing significant growth from the Tier II cities. With the millennial generations travelling a lot and with the aid of low cost carriers, this is fuelling growth in outbound travel. Now Low Cost carriers are coming into Macao through Asian Hubs are helping,” she added.
With India being the fifth top market, the other four top source markets for Sands Resort Macao are China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
