ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s City of Dreams integrated resort, built by John Keells Holdings, with a casino and Nuwa hotel by its partner Melco Resorts and Entertainment, expects to reposition Colombo to the top end of the tourism market, officials said.
The 1.2 billion Us dollar integrated resort was conceptualized in 2010-2011, after a 30-year war and John Keells was looking for ways to strengthen Sri Lanka’s tourism potential.
“We were also conscious that we were next door to India, which was growing at a rapid pace, and is continuing to grow even today, 11 years later,” JKH Chairman Krishan Balendra said.
“And we could see the potential for having that outbound Indian tourist market. But not just India.
“We are four hours away from the Middle East and other parts of South Asia, and very close even to Southeast Asia, so we have very big tourist arrivals from India, China, other Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East.”
“So, we were looking at what we should build to tap that opportunity, and looking around what was very impactful in the region were these integrated resorts, where you have the different components that we now have in place.”
The City of Dreams has a Cinnamon Hotel, Melco casino and its Nuwa Hotel, apartments, shopping mall, conference and banqueting space and restaurants which will have spillover effects similar to Marina Bay sands in Singapore, he said.
“The first time I visited 12 years ago, and I was shown the rendering and the design of this iconic building, I thought – and we built some pretty amazing stuff around the world – and I was like, this is just impossible, it’s not buildable,” said Lawrence Ho, Chairman of Melco Resorts and Entertainment.
“And of course, we’re in this amazing iconic building today.”
“Sri Lanka is perfectly positioned as a gateway to key feeder markets, including India, China, Russia, the Middle East, with India in particular showing tremendous growth in its affluent middle and upper classes.”
Melco has gaming resorts in Macau, Manila and Cyprus. Sri Lanka has the chance to be what Macau is to China, he said.
Between Cypress and Colombo, there was the Middle East where the firm had seen significant growth.
“What we’ve been telling our database of guests is that Sri Lanka is like no destination that we’ve been to,” Ho said.
“If you go to look at the places that we’ve had, like Macau, which is very much a small city where gaming and localities really, and Cyprus is an island.
“But when you come to Sri Lanka, it’s really a destination that you can spend a week or even two weeks in.”
John Keells Holding is expected to get fixed and variable revenues from the Casino, hotel revenues, rent over the longer term, and also profits from apartment sales.
Bookings are starting to grow and this year’s winter season as a whole is is looking better than last year for the country, Balendra said.
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