Attracting Indian high rollers to a new casino
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Mr. Krishan Balendra
Sri Lanka is in a unique position to increase the number of tourist arrivals, particularly from India – the country’s strongest source market – if the long awaited nation branding promotion campaign is kick-started, a top corporate chief said this week.
“India’s economy is growing at a phenomenal rate and we can benefit from that boom. We should easily be able to attract 1 million Indians from 400,000 last year, with new facilities while the take-off of the long-overdue country promotion campaign, would help immensely,” said John Keells Holdings Chairman Krishan Balendra in an interview ahead of the conglomerate’s gigantic City of Dreams which officially opens on August 2.
Sri Lanka recorded 2 million arrivals last year of which 416,974 were Indians, up from 302,844 in 2023. While the Cinnamon Life hotel with 687 rooms was opened last November, the August 2 event will see Macau-based Melco’s US$123 million investment in a casino and the exclusive 113-room Nuwa hotel opening its doors, in addition to the formal opening of the mall. JKH’s investment in the total project is $1.2 billion.
The City of Dreams is a flagship brand of Melco which also has a City of Dreams in Manila, Macau and Cyprus along with the Nuwa hotel concept.
Asked about the investment return, Mr. Balendra said they were confident on a return on investment over the medium term of 15 per cent.
One of the advantages of the casino is that there is a hotel also operated by Melco, so a guest just needs to go downstairs from the room to the casino. Nuwa will be on the 25th floor, separate lifts, separate reception/check in, a pool and a spa.
“We are targeting tourists and MICE traffic and there are many queries on using our facilities, particularly from Indians since we have a world class casino operator,” he said. The company is also tapping into the China market where 170 million citizens travel overseas.
Cinnamon Life has five venues and together 4.5 million sq feet of space. Its office complex has 24 floors of which 21 floors are occupied. Over 70 per cent of the 430 apartments have been sold.
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