Galaxy Entertainment Group said the next phase of its ambitious expansion plans for Galaxy Macau will open by year’s end.
The centerpiece of the HK$9 billion project (US$1.16 billion) will be a 430,000-square foot complex known as the Galaxy International Convention Center, which GEG is positioning for head-to-head battle with Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and other centers of Asia’s lucrative MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events) trade.
“When we looked at building this facility we spent a lot of time in Singapore, looked at their market, looked at their facilities, what makes them unique,” said Joey Pather, senior vice president of MICE Operations & Sales for Hong Kong-listed GEG. “In the end, we see our business as part of the big picture and not just a dollar figure.”
The Galaxy International will feature 100,000 square feet of pillarless exhibition space, a 43,000-square-foot conference hall, a ballroom, banquet space with seating for 2,400 and a 650-seat auditorium fitted state-of-the art acoustics.
Supporting the facility will be a connecting 700-room luxury hotel, Andaz Macau, and a multipurpose events venue, Galaxy Arena, with seating for 16,000.
The pandemic “has changed the way we’ve all done business,” Pather said. “When people started to talk about the new normal, we saw this as new possibilities.”
He added, “The confidence of our industry, in particular, will help stimulate the recovery of the economy.”
Galaxy Macau, located in Taipa at the entrance to the city’s Cotai resort district, has grown through two earlier expansions since opening in 2011 to comprise more than 3,400 rooms and suites in five hotels, some 120 food and beverage outlets, a massive retail area, a multiplex cinema, spa and fitness facilities, a rooftop wave pool, and with 1,500 machine games and 650 live tables one of Macau’s largest casinos.
GEG said construction of a fourth phase is in the works, currently pegged at HK$13 billion ($1.63 billion), and is expected to take three years to complete.
