Macau’s development continues to impress first-time visitors and seasoned industry veterans alike. Although there are still a few obvious teething problems being experienced such as transport into and out of the destination and border crossings, these are not considered to be long-term issues.
Aliana Ho, senior vice-president for destination marketing of the Venetian, says:
“These issues really are only short term. We need to remember that 18 months ago this area was still a construction site. Even now, the Cotai Strip is only operating at a fraction of its potential capacity. As the size grows, so these minor problems will all be worked out.”
Major groups to have held recent events in Macau include Sony Ericsson, Citibank, Tourism Australia and Hagemeyer. The Hagemeyer incentive involved an international group of 960 delegates and was organised by Incentive House Australia. (see Case Study, p85)
LOCAL LOGISTICS
“For the Hagemeyer event we found logistics to be a bit of a headache in terms of international international flight access and ferries,” says Les Alford, manager of conferences and events at Australian-based Incentive House Asia.
“However Macau will be a great destination when the infrastructure is fully in place. The biggest organised group I would take there at this stage is around the 250-person mark, but that’s only because of the transport.”
Alford was positive about the group’s experience at the Venetian. “The events team and sales team were excellent,” he says.
“The director of sales who sold us the event even came to our gala dinner to ensure it ran smoothly. This went down very well with the client.”
The Four Seasons Hotel will be the first to open on the Cotai Strip, sometime during the third quarter of 2008. It is directly connected to the Venetian and its lobby is a seven-minute walk away from the convention centre.
The hotel will feature 360 guestrooms and suites that will eventually compete with the St. Regis for star billing as the most luxurious on the Strip. However until that happens, the Four Seasons is the place to be.
Interestingly, Four Seasons also guarantees groups that the room you book is the room you will get. This means no chance of anyone in your group being moved to a secondary property on the off-chance a high roller comes to town.
Further along the Strip, Traders (1,261 rooms), Shangri-La (636) and Sheraton (4,067) should be the next to open in the first half of 2009. The remainder of the 20,000 rooms currently under construction will be finished by end of 2011.
ENTERTAINMENT ARRIVAL
The biggest news in entertainment is the imminent opening of Cirque du Soleil, which has produced a special show for Macau called Zaia. The show will run eight times per week
in a custom-built 1,800-seat theatre that is part of the Venetian.
The combined cost of show creation and the custom-built theatre for Zaia is US$150 million. Preview performances will begin on July 26 and the Gala Premiere will be August 28.
In central Macau, the MGM Grand continues to attract a steady stream of corporate events. These include groups from Citibank, Macau Government Tourism Organisation, Hennessy and Coca-Cola.
A major highlight at the hotel is the exclusive dinners it conducts in its wine cellar, just off the Grande Praca.
Nearby, the Sofitel@Ponte 16 and the renovated Grand Lisboa are ready for business and just awaiting government licenses before they can open.