Adelson expects good times for Sands despite downturn
MACAU -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson insisted his company would thrive despite worsening economic conditions as he marked the one-year anniversary Thursday of his $2.4 billion Venetian resort in this southern Chinese gambling city.
Since its opening, the mega-casino resort, the biggest in the world, has gotten some 24 million visitors and helped launch what Adelson envisions as a massive, concentrated resort area. Adelson is betting the Cotai Strip will become one of the world's top tourist destinations.
However, the American billionaire, whose company posted a second-quarter loss amid a weakening Las Vegas market, faces a host of challenges, from slowing global growth to fierce competition from Wynn Resorts Ltd. and others.
Adelson maintained Sands could fare well because of its focus on luring business travelers for conventions, exhibitions and other industry meetings held even during recessions.
"Our entire strategy avoids the possibility of an economic slowdown, a recession," Adelson said at The Venetian Macau.
He and other Sands executives also argued that possible stricter visa rules for mainland Chinese tourists, who make up of the majority of Macau visitors, would affect them less than their rivals. That's because company's Macau properties are less reliant on Chinese visitors than other casinos, they contended.
"The Cotai Strip is not just ... a series of integrated resorts for Chinese people only. It's for all Asians," Adelson said.
Earlier Thursday, he was on hand as Sands opened the upscale Four Seasons Macau, next to The Venetian, the latest project in Adelson's $13 billion master plan to develop Cotai. The company has about 23 percent of the gambling market in Macau, with The Venetian taking in $2.18 billion in revenue during its first 12 months.
Adelson also is building a resort in Singapore and has his sights on other countries in Asia, which executives say will soon account for 70 percent or more of company revenue. On Thursday, Adelson said he had recently met with government officials in India.
"We would like to build a Cotai Strip in India. That would not affect Macau whatsoever. The market in India with more than 1.1 billion people will justify more than one Cotai Strip," Adelson said. "If (the Indian government) wants to invite us there, we'll be happy to come in to spend between $12 billion and $14 billion."
Macau, just an hour by high-speed ferry from Hong Kong, has seen its gambling revenue grow rapidly since the government ended Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho's monopoly on the gambling industry after Macau was returned to Chinese rule from Portugal in 1999.
China's only city with legalized casinos, Macau has already overtaken the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenue to become the world's most lucrative gambling center.
U.S DEVELOPER UNVEILS MALL PLANS FOR MACAU HONG KONG -- U.S. mall developer Taubman Centers Inc. unveiled its foray into the booming gambling city of Macau on Wednesday -- a giant upscale shopping center aimed at capitalizing on China's growing appetite for luxury goods. The 920,000-square-foot Mall at Studio City will boast about 140 stores from Gucci, Cartier, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and other brands in one of the biggest concentrations of high-end retailers outside New York and Paris, the company says. Scheduled to open in 2011, the center is the showpiece of a $2.5 billion joint venture gambling resort project along the city's Cotai Strip. Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, surpassed the Strip as the world's top gambling center in 2006. Now Taubman and others are betting that the tiny former Portuguese colony, like Las Vegas, will become a shopping mecca. Their sights are set largely on Chinese consumers. Already accounting for 18 percent of global luxury sales, Chinese are likely to exceed Americans and Europeans as the largest revenue group in six years, said Morgan Parker, president of Taubman Asia Limited. "Macau is the fastest growing retail market in Asia," Parker said. "Together with Hong Kong, Macau represents the very best access portal into China's growing appetite for luxury." Others agree. Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Corp. have set up major retail centers at the Wynn Macau and Venetian Macau. A Four Seasons' center opened last month sports many of the same tony brands. Parker dismisses any worries about a retail glut, saying 40 million tourists were expected to pass through Macau by 2010. And whereas Las Vegas -- among the world's most successful shopping destinations -- has about 350 feet of retail space for each hotel room, Macau will have about 150 in the next couple years, he says. "We're only really touching the tip of the iceberg," he said. Taubman, founded in 1950, in the U.S. owns or manages 24 shopping centers in 11 states. The company calculates its market capitalization at $7 billion. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
