South Korea has the potential to become the world’s top MICE (meeting, incentive tour, convention and exhibition) destination once it upgrades its tourism infrastructure, Marina Bay Sands (MBS) CEO George Tanasijevich said.By Kim Jae-kyoung
He added that a large-scale integrated resort similar to MBS in Singapore will not only help Korea revitalize its infrastructure but also serve as a marketing tool to attract more business and leisure tourists from abroad.
“Korea has a greater opportunity to lift its MICE industry even higher (than Singapore),” Tanasijevich said in an interview with The Korea Times at the MBS Hotel overlooking a panoramic view of Singapore.
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He pointed out that Korea has many advantages over competitors such as Singapore, because it has both rich cultural assets and advanced technology.
“You have wonderful cultural, historical attractions that the tourism industry leverages very effectively. Where I think it is lacking is in more modern tourism infrastructure. The integrated resort is something that would be a huge positive effect on tourism in Korea,” he said.
“Korea has a well-established international airport, a highly skilled workforce, and high connectivity. It also has a network of small firms that can support a large-scale resort and at the same time benefit from it. And Korea is very innovative in technology and pop culture.”
However, the CEO said that there are infrastructure limitations, or even an outright lack of infrastructure within the MICE industry in Korea. He believes that an integrated resort will relieve many such constraints.
One limitation he cites is that the largest ballroom in Seoul can only serve dinner to around 700 people at once, compared to MBS that can serve dinners to 6,600 people at the same time.
“That’s an example of an infrastructure constraint in terms of facilities that MICE industry offers in Korea. You can’t have the world’s biggest event because the world’s biggest event wants to have dinners that are bigger than 700 people,” he said.
Another example of limitation or constraint in the market is entertainment facilities.
Tanasijevich, who is managing director of Global Development for Las Vegas Sands Corp., said that Korean entertainment is sweeping across the globe but venues are inadequate to really promote the industry within Korea.
“If we are given the opportunity to develop the resort in Korea, what we would do is create major entertainment components included in it,” he said.
“It can serve as a home of K-pop, home of Korean entertainment so that you can use it as a marketing tool to draw high-value tourists into Korea who would contribute significantly to your economy.”
The Singapore-based CEO said that Sands is not interested in investing in building a resort allowing only foreigners to gamble.
“That’s not our business model. That’s not what interests us in Korea so we are not moving forward with that kind of project. What we are looking to do is to create a MICE-focused resort that is more substantial than MBS.”
The following is an excerpt from the interview.
Q: Sands has had tremendous success with MBS in Singapore. What do you think are the key success factors?
A: We are pleased that in our seven years of operations, we are still partnering with the government to deliver its promises of tourism, jobs and growth to Singapore. I would say the biggest contributor is our unique MICE-focused resort business model, which is a strong fit for a city like Singapore, a top destination for tourism as well as MICE business.
We did not just bring a replica of what we have developed in other parts of the world. We proposed a very strong MICE element, which would fulfill Singapore’s aspirations as a MICE destination.
Then we added celebrity chef restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, a sizeable retail mall and a museum to add excitement to Singapore as an entertainment and dining attraction. To alleviate the problem of insufficient hotel rooms, we constructed 2,500 rooms. We then added an iconic SkyPark and architecture that would make a stunning skyline for Singapore, given that we were awarded the focal site in Marina Bay.
Likewise, we will study the Korean market carefully and develop an integrated resort that will fulfill the aspirations and objectives of the Korean people if we have the opportunity to be in Korea.
Q: MBS is now a symbol of Singapore and considered a successful integrated resort model. Korea is different from Singapore in many aspects. Do you think the same model can be applied to Korea?
A: On the flip side, Korea is also similar to Singapore in many ways. It is a developed country with a strong economy, its workforce is highly skilled and its people have the same aspirations for better jobs, better lives and growth for the country. We will adapt our model to Korea, which like Singapore, is a very strong MICE contender among the world’s top business destinations.
Q: Do you think an integrated resort can contribute to economic growth by creating more jobs and bolstering the tourism industry?
A: Today, MBS is one of the largest job creators in Singapore. We hire over 9,500 team members for our daily operations and house another 3,000 staffers under the employment of various tenants in our retail mall.
By 2015, MBS had created 46,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in the Singapore economy, according to economists. Since we opened in 2010, we have offered thousands of Singaporeans unprecedented opportunities to work alongside the world’s biggest celebrity chefs, stage the biggest entertainment events and learn new skills and trade in gaming, conventions and more.
If we have an opportunity to open an integrated resort in Korea, we will create similar opportunities for the Korean people, especially for young Koreans who want good careers in a multinational company.
In MBS, Singaporeans make up 60 percent of senior management, and account for 80 percent of the supervisory and managerial positions. The numbers illustrate that we can provide not only employment, but good jobs for Koreans if we have the opportunity to open in Korea.
Q: The biggest hurdle to opening an IR in Korea is the public’s negative sentiment against casinos. What is your view on Koreans’ concerns?
A: We believe many Koreans associate the word casino with gambling dens, which is not what our type of integrated resort like MBS is. Our proposal for Korea is an entertainment complex with theaters, celebrity chef restaurants, a mall, hotel, convention facilities, attractions, and even arenas and parks. The casino is less than 5 percent of the total footprint, making it possible for millions of visitors to enjoy our resort without taking a step into the casino.
We will work closely with the government to inform and educate the Korean public about our type of integrated resorts we intend to invest in Korea if the government allows us the opportunity to do so.
Q: What is your bottom line in investment in Korea?
A: We do not believe that a foreigners-only casino will accomplish the goals of the Korean people. Korea already has 16 of them. It will neither warrant the type of investments we intend to make nor achieve the economic impact that the Korean government wants to achieve. We believe a restricted-entry casino that allows Koreans, subject to social safeguards and barriers to entry in place — no bigger than 5 percent of the total integrated resort footprint, will do so.
Q: Do you have preferred places to build an integrated resort in Korea?
A: We think that Seoul and Busan are ideal locations for our type of business model and the size of investment we are prepared to make.
As you can note from MBS in Singapore, because we have such substantial elements for MICE facilities we need to be in a downtown location that is accessible to major international airports and a place where we can provide opportunities for companies and business people.
