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08-10-2011, 05:21 AM
More potential business for Kingsmen in future?
Business Times - 08 Oct 2011
MICE on its mind, MBS eyes more room to grow
By GRACE LEONG
A LAND parcel south of Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Tower One has been identified as a possible site for expansion of its hotel, convention and exhibition space. This comes just months after Las Vegas Sands (LVS) CEO Sheldon Adelson spoke of lobbying the Singapore government for more land.
MBS chief executive George Tanasijevich identified the parcel for the first time at a recent LVS investor conference in Las Vegas, saying demand for MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events at MBS has grown so much that it is expected to outstrip even that of the Sands Expo in Las Vegas starting next year.
He said MBS isn't seeking additional gaming space. MBS has not exceeded its maximum allotted 15,000 square metres of gross gaming floor area.
The parcel, which is not on the reserve list, meaning it isn't positioned to go through the public tender process, is located along Bayfront Avenue and bordered by Sheares Link and the East Coast Parkway.
The five-storey Sands Expo and Convention Centre consists of more than 120,000 square metres of meeting space. 'This critical mass gives us the ability to have multiple events running at the same time, or larger events,' said Mr Tanasijevich.
But space, or lack thereof, is a growing issue. 'We're finding it difficult to take on all the exhibition business that's coming our way. There are certain points in time when we can't accommodate dinners of a certain size because our ballroom is booked,' he said.
'This land parcel would present great opportunities to expand the number of hotel rooms, add additional exhibition and ballroom space to respond to increasing demands in that part of the business,' Mr Tanasijevich said.
MBS, which can book up to a maximum of 50 trade shows annually, booked 44 trade shows and 523 meetings, incentives and conferences (MICs) this year, compared with 28 trade shows and 335 MICs last year. To date, it has already pre-booked 42 trade shows and 78 MICs for 2012.
But Mr Tanasijevich noted the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) masterplan for the site is still unfolding. 'We see great potential to expand MBS, but nothing has been approved yet, and we're internally still at the exploratory stage,' he said.
Officials for the URA and Singapore Tourism Board said they've not received any formal applications from MBS on this issue.
'However, it is not unusual for URA to receive suggestions from developers to put sites on sale,' a URA spokesman said. 'Whether URA does so depends on availability of the sites, market demand and our planning priorities.'
URA said the release of land at Marina Bay under the Government Land Sales programme will be 'paced in tandem with market demand and ongoing infrastructure works in the Marina Bay area'. Developers who are interested to grow their businesses in Marina Bay can participate in the public tenders for these land parcels when they are made available, URA said.
In an effort to bring in more VIP high rollers, MBS is planning to build an upscale gaming area for casino whales on the 55th floor of Tower 3. 'We're looking at converting that space to very high-end ultra Paiza space, subject to government approval, that's above and beyond anything you've seen before, and convert some of the standard rooms to very fine high-end suites,' Mr Tanasijevich said. 'We can offer some of the highest table limits in the world. We have the largest suite of aircraft at our disposal and we're going to start increasing our usage of that, and we can leverage our non-gaming amenities to give our customers even better experience and bring them back more frequently.'
To maximise growth in mass gaming, MBS has over the past year made around 3,000 changes in the way it positions slots and electronic table games to optimise the gaming floor. 'We've focused since Day One on understanding our customer, their behaviour, habits and likes,' Mr Tanasijevich said. 'We've made over 1,300 table changes and configurations based on sophisticated modelling, identifying what works best at MBS for our customer from South-east Asia, North Asia and beyond.'
Even as LVS is pursuing growth opportunities in Europe, Mr Adelson, who also spoke at the conference, said Asian expansion remains its first priority. 'We firmly believe our existing portfolio of properties in Asia and the results they've achieved for the host countries make us the candidate of choice for those Asian governments interested in pursuing the development of IRs,' he said. 'Those countries are very familiar with our work in Macau and Singapore, and they simply cannot ignore how MBS moves the needle in terms of GDP, tourism, convention and other benefits in Singapore.'
Business Times - 08 Oct 2011
MICE on its mind, MBS eyes more room to grow
By GRACE LEONG
A LAND parcel south of Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Tower One has been identified as a possible site for expansion of its hotel, convention and exhibition space. This comes just months after Las Vegas Sands (LVS) CEO Sheldon Adelson spoke of lobbying the Singapore government for more land.
MBS chief executive George Tanasijevich identified the parcel for the first time at a recent LVS investor conference in Las Vegas, saying demand for MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events at MBS has grown so much that it is expected to outstrip even that of the Sands Expo in Las Vegas starting next year.
He said MBS isn't seeking additional gaming space. MBS has not exceeded its maximum allotted 15,000 square metres of gross gaming floor area.
The parcel, which is not on the reserve list, meaning it isn't positioned to go through the public tender process, is located along Bayfront Avenue and bordered by Sheares Link and the East Coast Parkway.
The five-storey Sands Expo and Convention Centre consists of more than 120,000 square metres of meeting space. 'This critical mass gives us the ability to have multiple events running at the same time, or larger events,' said Mr Tanasijevich.
But space, or lack thereof, is a growing issue. 'We're finding it difficult to take on all the exhibition business that's coming our way. There are certain points in time when we can't accommodate dinners of a certain size because our ballroom is booked,' he said.
'This land parcel would present great opportunities to expand the number of hotel rooms, add additional exhibition and ballroom space to respond to increasing demands in that part of the business,' Mr Tanasijevich said.
MBS, which can book up to a maximum of 50 trade shows annually, booked 44 trade shows and 523 meetings, incentives and conferences (MICs) this year, compared with 28 trade shows and 335 MICs last year. To date, it has already pre-booked 42 trade shows and 78 MICs for 2012.
But Mr Tanasijevich noted the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) masterplan for the site is still unfolding. 'We see great potential to expand MBS, but nothing has been approved yet, and we're internally still at the exploratory stage,' he said.
Officials for the URA and Singapore Tourism Board said they've not received any formal applications from MBS on this issue.
'However, it is not unusual for URA to receive suggestions from developers to put sites on sale,' a URA spokesman said. 'Whether URA does so depends on availability of the sites, market demand and our planning priorities.'
URA said the release of land at Marina Bay under the Government Land Sales programme will be 'paced in tandem with market demand and ongoing infrastructure works in the Marina Bay area'. Developers who are interested to grow their businesses in Marina Bay can participate in the public tenders for these land parcels when they are made available, URA said.
In an effort to bring in more VIP high rollers, MBS is planning to build an upscale gaming area for casino whales on the 55th floor of Tower 3. 'We're looking at converting that space to very high-end ultra Paiza space, subject to government approval, that's above and beyond anything you've seen before, and convert some of the standard rooms to very fine high-end suites,' Mr Tanasijevich said. 'We can offer some of the highest table limits in the world. We have the largest suite of aircraft at our disposal and we're going to start increasing our usage of that, and we can leverage our non-gaming amenities to give our customers even better experience and bring them back more frequently.'
To maximise growth in mass gaming, MBS has over the past year made around 3,000 changes in the way it positions slots and electronic table games to optimise the gaming floor. 'We've focused since Day One on understanding our customer, their behaviour, habits and likes,' Mr Tanasijevich said. 'We've made over 1,300 table changes and configurations based on sophisticated modelling, identifying what works best at MBS for our customer from South-east Asia, North Asia and beyond.'
Even as LVS is pursuing growth opportunities in Europe, Mr Adelson, who also spoke at the conference, said Asian expansion remains its first priority. 'We firmly believe our existing portfolio of properties in Asia and the results they've achieved for the host countries make us the candidate of choice for those Asian governments interested in pursuing the development of IRs,' he said. 'Those countries are very familiar with our work in Macau and Singapore, and they simply cannot ignore how MBS moves the needle in terms of GDP, tourism, convention and other benefits in Singapore.'
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