Sands China has set January 22 as the opening date for the Londoner Macao, giving the revamped Cotai resort plenty of time to gear up for the weeklong Lunar New Year festivities that begin February 12.
“The Londoner Macao will offer our guests another new and exciting experience while further illustrating our commitment to Macau and the expansion of its tourism offerings,” said Rob Goldstein, president of parent company Las Vegas Sands.
The project, a transformation of the resort complex formerly known as Sands Cotai Central, is part of a reported US$2.2 billion in fresh capital investment Sands China has slated for the Chinese casino hub.
The opening will occur in stages and eventually will encompass four hotels totaling some 6,000 rooms, suites and condos, a casino with up to 450 table games and 2,000 machine games, a 6,000-seat arena, a remodeled shopping mall and more than 34,000 square meters of meetings and exhibitions space.
The exterior has been redesigned to look like the Palace of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament, a scaled-down replica of Big Ben included, and an array of themed attractions designed for mass-market appeal will be phased in, including costumed characters, street shows and virtual reality experiences, themed food and beverage outlets and other cultural and tourist attractions associated with the British capital.
Timed to cash in on the historically lucrative New Year, the busiest travel season in China, the Londoner’s opening comes at an important juncture for Macau, whose core gaming and tourism industries are still reeling from the beating the Covid crisis has inflicted on travel and spending from mainland China, its principal feeder market. Annual gaming revenues, the largest in the world prior to the pandemic, have fallen more than 80 percent since last year. Visitation is down around 90 percent.
With the Venetian Macao and Parisian Macao, Sands China has enjoyed great success with expansively themed resorts, and those looking to The Londoner to help jump-start the market’s recovery, hope the company will justify its track record yet again.
Sands China President Wilfred Wong recently reaffirmed his belief that the new resort will “raise the profile of Macau, while increasing the number of visitors as our other flagship properties have done.”
Goldstein said, “Our investment in the Londoner Macao is a clear signal that we believe Macau’s future as one of the world’s most important leisure and business destinations remains on course.”
