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SOUTH KOREA. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism this week approved the development of a casino complex on Yeongjong Island, close to Incheon International Airport. The casino will be open only to overseas visitors and maintains the country’s drive to attract more Chinese travellers.
The development, news of which featured in Korean media this week, was confirmed today to The Moodie Report by a spokesman for Incheon International Airport Corporation.
The casino proposal was made by LOCZ Korea, a joint China-US consortium comprising the Lippo Group and Caesars.
The first phase, which opens in 2018, will include the building of a casino, hotel, shopping mall and convention centre in Midan City at the north end of Yeongjong Island (a Free Economic Zone off the coast), noted a report in The Hankyoreh business title.
LOCZ Korea plans to invest KRW743.7 billion (US$695.4 million) initially with an integrated resort scheduled to be completed in 2023. The consortium said the move would deliver KRW890 billion (US$832 million) in tourism revenues by 2020, with around 8,000 jobs created during the 2014-18 construction period, plus indirect employment of around 2,100 people during operation.
The media reports also noted that other casino investors are weighing up a move to Yeongjong Island. These include Korean companies Paradise Group and Grand Korea Leisure, as well as Universal Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands.
The casino development will heavily target Chinese visitors (South Korea restricts access by its own citizens to the country’s casinos) and is likely to deliver big benefits to Incheon Airport’s travel retailers.
Chinese visitor arrivals soared by +52.5% in 2013 to 4,326,869, according to Korea Tourism Organization, and Chinese now account for a 35.5% share of the inbound tourism market, ahead of the Japanese with 22.6%.
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How The Hankyoreh covered the casino story online |
