SINGAPORE: The casino licence of Resorts World Sentosa ( RWS), one of two integrated resorts in Singapore, has been , renewed for two years – instead of the usual three – with authorities citing “unsatisfactory” tourism performance.
An evaluation panel determined that a number of areas that required “rectification and substantial improvement” over a period of evaluation, beginning at January 2021 and ending at December 2023, according to the Gambling Regulatory Authority ( GRA ).
Asked to elaborate on the assessment metrics for Singapore’s integrated resorts, the GRA and the , Ministry of Trade and Industry ( MTI ) both pointed CNA to the Casino Control Act.
The regulations establishes three or more members to shape the examination board, who will examine the visitor charm of the integrated resort, how it compares to other similar attractions in the world or prevailing industry standards, whether it meets prevailing market demand, and how it contributes to Singapore’s tourism industry.
MTI said the board consists of top business leaders with expertise ranging from corporate leadership and funding to kindness, entertainment, tourism and the art.
The Casino Control Act even lists performance metrics, including:
- the number of visitors to the included location and its parts, both paid and unpaid,
- Visitor pleasure rates
- speed and extent of reinvestment in the included resort and its parts
- presence of amenities that visitors to the included resort and its components can use, as well as the length of the time they are accessible.
The area where RWS is located, Sentosa Development Corporation, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and Sentosa Development Corporation, both of whom said they were unable to provide specifics about how RWS performed in relation to the registration of its license.
” NOT TOO CROWDED”?
Before the COVID-19 crisis, more than 20 million people visited RWS annually, the company said.
Although it did not provide data for more recent years, it stated that visitor numbers have been gradually rising in combination with foreign visitors.
Pandemic-related border restrictions and actions were in place for the majority of the evaluation period before they were lifted in first 2023.
Apart from its blackjack, RWS- which opened in 2010- has four monuments, six name franchises and seven resorts.
Adventure Cove Waterpark and Universal Studios Singapore ( USS) theme park were both shut down in September of last year, and Universal Studios Singapore ( USS) was only allowed to resume daily operations in June 2023.
Sentosa Development Corporation, however, previously told CNA that it received 15 million tourists in 2023, which is around 75 per share of pre-pandemic numbers. The number includes both visitors to RWS and those to Sentosa’s different destinations.
Jason Sum, a researcher for DBS Group, found RWS’s two-year license regeneration to be somewhat unexpected. We think a portion of the pandemic’s “unsatisfactory achievement” may be attributed to problems, he said.