Funworld July 2010

RESORTS WORLD STAKES ITS CLAIM AS A PREMIER DESTINATION RESORT
by Lim Hui Sin

By the time Resorts World Sentosa opened in February of this year, anticipation on the tropical island nation of Singapore had already reached fever pitch. The family resort was the first of its kind in the region and promised an exciting array of entertainment options previously unavailable in the country.

Within the first week of its opening, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) had already received more than 86,000 visitors, while all available tickets were snapped up on the first day of sales for the official opening of Universal Studios Singapore, the resort’s signature theme park.

“It’s the only world-class family resort in this part of the world,” says Noel Hawkes, vice president of resort operations at RWS. “It rejuvenates Singapore. It caters to everyone and adds buzz to the place.”

Complete Integration
Dubbed an “integrated resort,” RWS truly has something for everyone. It includes four hotels, a casino, the Universal park, and retail and dining outlets, all of which opened in February and March. Construction on remaining phases has already begun, and by 2012, a mari - time museum, a marine life park, and two more hotels and a spa resort will be added.

Resorts World sprawls across 49 hectares (121 acres) on Sentosa, an islet off the southern tip of Singapore. The project broke ground in 2007 and is estimated to cost developers Genting International S$6.6 billion (US$4.7 billion).

In addition to families, RWS is also targeting the meetings and events market. The four hotels that are already open—Crockfords Tower, Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel, and Hard Rock Hotel Singapore—offer a total of 1,340 guest rooms; new Equarius and Spa Villas will bring this total to 1,800.

Extensive meeting facilities include the largest column-free ballroom in Asia, which can seat 7,000 people and is divisible into nine smaller function rooms, as well as another 26 breakout rooms. The different zones and event spaces within the Universal Studios theme park will also be available for corporate events such as product launches or parties.

Family Destination
Resorts World signed a memorandum of understanding with Tiger Airways, the Singapore-based budget carrier, to start charter services with an A320 aircraft by the end of the year. The airline currently flies to 33 destinations in 11 countries. Hawke says the specialized charter will not be serving any specific routes but instead will be “available from wherever there is a demand.”

“Singapore is the hub of Asia; the markets here are growing as Asia becomes more affluent, but there are not that many theme parks in the region,” says Hawkes, a hospitality industry veteran of several decades in the region. He foresees a large percentage of visitors to Resorts World Sentosa will be tourists. “We’re expecting a large increase in visitors from Malaysia and Indonesia, and also an influx of Chinese and Indian tourists as the number of middle-class consumers in those countries grow,” he says. As Singapore is also a popular air transit stopover for travelers from Europe and Australia, visitors from these regions are also being targeted. Hawkes says the addition of RWS, along with the Marina Sands integrated resort, is expected to contribute to lengthening the average stay of visitors to Singapore by one day according to government studies.

The Marina Bay Sands resort, located at a waterfront site on the Singapore mainland near the city’s central business district, opened in April this year. The country’s second integrated resort, which also has a casino, is operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. But Hawkes does not appear worried about the competition, saying RWS is focused on a different market segment. “As the first integrated resort in the region, completed ahead of schedule, we have the firstmover advantage,” he says, adding that at RWS, the casino was a small component, making up just 5 percent of the entire resort area.

He says RWS is more of a family destination with its array of themed entertainment options and family restaurants alongside more sophisticated options for grown-ups. He says sister company Genting provides a big advantage because it “has been in the region for a long time.” Genting, which also operates a casino and resort in Malaysia, has a marketing and sales network covering 22 cities in the region.

Lofty Expectations
Marketing and regional competition aside, given the scale and novelty of the operations, human resource challenges are almost inevitable, as Singapore has a population of just 5 million. “We have a very small base in Singapore, and the entire resort requires 10,000 staff to run,” says Hawkes. The casino and theme park staff require a lot of training, and foreign expertise had to be brought in, he says, and “we also needed to import stuntmen and other talents for the entertainment shows.”

Because of government regulations in Singapore, RWS has to run very rigorous checks on both patrons and staff members of the casino. A levy of S$100 is imposed on the citizens and permanent residents of Singapore for entrance to the casino, while bans on certain individuals are also in place and have to be enforced.

RWS has the capacity to receive up to 15 million people a year and is expecting 12 to 13 million visitors in its first year of operation.

Visitor numbers to the resort island of Sentosa have already been increasing since the opening of RWS. Sentosa Leisure Group reported an increase of 17 percent in visitors in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. This has also led to better business at older attractions on Sentosa such as the Underwater World, as well as restaurants and retail stores, local media reported.

Hollywood Draw
In addition to the casino—Singapore’s first—another big draw at RWS is the Universal Studios Singapore (USS) theme park. Of the 24 rides and attractions in the park, 18 are original or adapted for Singapore, including the world’s tallest dueling coasters, jointly dubbed “Battlestar Galactica.” Two zones based on the animated films “Shrek” and “Madagascar,” respectively, are exclusive to USS, while next year will bring the international debut of a “Transformers”- themed attraction. Because of the challenges posed by the tropical equatorial climate, half the rides and performances are indoors, safe from the heat, humidity, and frequent downpours.

Universal Studios was chosen as a partner because the movie theme was expected to be a hit. Weekday admission costs S$66 (US$47) for adults and S$48 (US$34) for children, making entry to the Singapore park the cheapest among all the Universal Studios theme parks worldwide. USS expects to receive 4.5 million visitors a year. “Movie concepts have a lot of appeal for a country with the largest movie going population in the world,” says Robin Goh, assistant director of communications at Resorts World Sentosa, “Food is the other obsession.”

Indeed, food and beverage at RWS is positioned as one of the resort’s attractions, with a spread of 60 options to choose from throughout the integrated property. A full food-andbeverage team of 2,700 people, featuring talents scouted from all over the world, is expected to dish up 40,000 meals daily across an equally diverse 350 menus. The lineup will include culinary superstars such as Joel Robuchon—the chef with the most number of Michelin stars in the world—offering a range of tastes from haute cuisine and fine dining to authentic Asian tastes and local cuisine.

Many of the restaurants and cafes are at Festive Walk, a half-kilometer (1,600-foot) waterfront stretch where visitors can also enjoy roving performances. RWS features a range of venues that have hosted various musical acts like Tom Jones, and international groups such as the Chippendales.

High rollers, thrill seekers, food lovers, young families, and day-trippers will all find plenty to do at Resorts World Sentosa.

“You could spend five days here and still find things to do,” says Hawkes.

Lim Hui Sin is a writer based in China. She can be reached at sinify@gmail.com.