Aug

28

Cotai Strip takes next step, opens Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cirque’s Zaia, and more shopping

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Shopping, Four Season's Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip®, Zaia | Leave a Comment

Las Vegas Sands Celebrates Opening of Second Cotai Strip(R) Property and Launch of New World-Class Retail and Entertainment Offerings

One year after the hugely successful opening of Macao’s first truly integrated casino resort — The Venetian Macao — Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS - News) today celebrated the opening of its second Cotai Strip(TM) property, the Four Seasons Hotel Macao. The celebration also marked the world premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s ZAIA at The Venetian Macao, and the official opening of the luxurious new Shoppes at Four Seasons.

“Today marks yet another significant milestone in the overall effort to transform Macao into an international leisure and business destination,” said Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. “The key to building a successful tourist destination is being able to assemble the critical mass of attractions needed to make the location more unique and compelling than its rival destinations. That is why we continue to add more and more important components, like luxury retail and world-class entertainment, to our Cotai Strip development. The Cotai Strip’s array of leisure, entertainment, and business offerings has already helped Macao attract a greater number of visitors from across the region and beyond and in the longer-term its popularity will further facilitate Macao’s evolution into an extremely successful and desirable international tourist destination.”

The new Four Seasons Hotel Macao, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., but operated and managed by the world-renowned Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Read more

Aug

25

LVS sets terms on Cotai Strip financing

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Las Vegas Sands, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

Bloomberg is reporting that LVS is closing on a loan to help fund its Cotai Strip hotel casino expansion.  The article reports that LVS is paying more then it had to pay for a loan it took out in 2006, which shouldnt be surprising considering the state of the credit markets.  Even if costs a little more this time around, LVS and its investors should be relieved that financing is in place to continue with the Cotai Strip expansion, which would explain why LVS’ stock was actually up today when the rest of the market was down about 2%.
From Bloomberg:  Read more

Aug

23

Couple interesting data points

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Statistics, TOURISM, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

1) Wow…

Macao’s value of total retail sales amounted 9.15 billion patacas (1.14 U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, a remarkably increase of 43 percent year-on-year, according to the figures Wednesday released by the city’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

2) This number may be about 4% higher than last June, but it still needs to go a lot higher. Las Vegas has 10x the number of hotel rooms that Macau has, yet Vegas still posts 90% plus occupancy rates month after month, year after year. Read more

Aug

22

LVS tries to calm fears before Cotai Strip’s Four Seasons Hotel opens

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Four Season's Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

A week before the opening of Las Vegas Sands’ newest $1 billion addition to Macau’s Cotai Strip, company President Bill Weidner downplayed Chinese media reports that the government wants to slow visitation into the gambling enclave.During a conference call Wednesday to discuss the Aug. 28 opening of the 360-room Four Seasons Macau, which is attached to the company’s massive 3,000-room Venetian Macau, Weidner said the bulk of the company’s Chinese visitors come from areas of the country that would not be affected by government-imposed visa restrictions.

Weidner also said company officials aren’t even sure China wants to enact the restrictions.

“This would be the fourth wave of visa restriction tweaking since 2000,” Weidner said. “I think the primary reason is they want to separate the wheat from the chaff. The restrictions are aimed at bringing a higher quality of visitors.”   Read more

Aug

18

Zaia

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Venetian Macao, ENTERTAINMENT, Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cirque de Soleil, Cotai Strip®, Zaia | Leave a Comment

The Wall Street Journal has a nice background article about the Cirque du Soleil show Zaia that will begin later on this month at the Cotai Strip’s Venetian Macao Resort.

The article is well worth a quick read, and there were a few things I found interesting. One was that Cirque contract with the Venetian Macao is for ten years.  I have no idea how long the contracts run for in Las Vegas, but ten years is certainly a long one.  Also, Cirque is preparing a second Cotai Strip show that will run at the Sheraton Macao Hotel Cotai Strip in 2009 (cant remember if I knew this). Read more

Aug

10

Learn from Vegas

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Cotai Strip®, Las Vegas | Comments Off

I recommend everyone take a quick look at my Las Vegas blog.  There is an interesting note about how Las Vegas has really surprised a lot of people by the magnitude of the downturn on the Las Vegas Strip during this recession.  Sure the economy is in the crapper, but maybe even more importantly, this time around Las Vegas is a lot more dependent on non-gaming activities than it has been in past downturns.

As Macao transitions itself from a gambling destination to an entertainment destination with all of the non-gambling amenities coming on line in Cotai and the Cotai Strip®, this is probably an important thing to keep in mind.

Aug

5

LVS 2nd quarter conference call

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Las Vegas Sands, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

Theres been a lot of volatility in LVS’ stock price over the past few months, so I couldnt wait til they held their conference call to discuss everything happening in Macao.  The financing of the Cotai Strip, Macau travel restrictions, plans for the parcels, it was all in the call.  I found a transcript of the call, but unfortunately Im only allowed to copy 400 words or I get sued.  So if you want to read it all, and I recommend that you do, click here.

Heres the intro:   Read more

Aug

4

Macao’s winners and losers

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

Time Magazine did a story and video on the social divide the booming casino industry is causing. I really didnt see anything new, but this story wont go away and will probably only draw more attention as Cotai and the Cotai Strip® build out and time goes on. Both the story and the Video are worth checking out. Read more

Jul

16

Vegas vs. Macao…no comparison

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Statistics, TOURISM, Cotai Strip® | 2 Comments

Macau is the new Vegas…not!

I came across a study put out by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority that analyzes why people visit Vegas, among other things.

First, let me ask you a question. What percent of people do you think visit Macao to gamble? If I had to guess, I’d say 80-85% (if anyone knows let me know).

Now, guess what percent of people visit Vegas to gamble. Read more

Jul

1

Cotai’s Upcoming Nightlife Boom

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, ENTERTAINMENT, Nightlife, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

In my last post, as I was busy plugging my new site DailyDoseofVegas.com, I rambled on a bit about how important nightclubs and nightlife has become to Las Vegas. It really is pretty amazing how Las Vegas has transformed itself from a gambling and $5 buffet destination to the nightlife and entertainment capital of the United States. At this point, around half of the revenue generated on the Las Vegas Strip is non-gaming. I dont know the figures in Macao, but if I had to guess, Read more

Jun

17

Two new Macao photo galleries

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

four seasons hotel macao

Some good new photos of Macau casinos:  Read more

Jun

16

Four Seasons Hotel Macao hiring

Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Four Season's Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip® | Leave a Comment

four seasons hotel macaoWe will be seeing a lot more of this over the next few years, but in much, much bigger numbers. The Four Seasons is relatively small compared to everything else that will be popping up in Cotai and the Cotai Strip® hotel complex.

Macau Daily Times reports: Read more

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