Operator News
Singapore – Genting Singapore up 54 per cent but non-gaming restrained by lagging international visitors
By Phil - 12 May 2023
For the first quarter of 2023, Genting Singapore reported $484.5m in revenue with adjusted EBITDA of $191.7m, a 54 per cent improvement from the same period last year.
At the property level, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has continued to benefit from the ongoing recovery of regional travel and gaming demand. On a hold-normalised basis, gross gaming revenue improved 12 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $530m. The recovery of non-gaming business was constrained by lagging overseas visitor arrivals from its traditional visitor source markets. Airline capacity constraints have continued to cap incoming mass leisure tourist traffic. Elevated airfares during the festive seasons have also impacted visitor volume for the attractions, resulting in a 15 per cent dip in the overall non-gaming revenue from the previous quarter.
The company said: “Looking ahead, as we continue with RWS 2.0 strategy, the Group is committed to enhancing RWS’ brand identity as a premium luxury destination that appeals to trendy and affluent customers. We were the Presenting Partner and Official Hotel for the first ever LIV Golf event in Singapore. Combining world-class golf, wonderful entertainment and premium guest experiences, this game-changing Super Golf League has elevated our marketing and brand posture globally, making RWS a compelling lifestyle and leisure proposition that resonate with our target consumers with diverse interests across entertainment, food, the arts, sports, and much more. To be carried out in two major stages, we will be investing to enhance all our product offerings. The initial stage (“RWS 1.5”) involves re-inventing and innovating our facilities to upscale RWS’ destination appeal and achieve better demand from our target markets.”
“The fully renovated 389-rooms Festive Hotel, rebranded as Hotel Ora for young and mobile with sustainable guestrooms and workspaces, has soft launched and started receiving guests in April 2023. With the opening of Hotel Ora, the resort’s overall room inventory now stands at almost 1,600 keys. Other hotels such as Hotel Michael and Crockfords Tower will be renovated in phases. The Forum at RWS, the central cluster which serves as the integrated resort’s first port of call for visitors, will undergo an extensive transformation from May 2023. Targeted for completion in end 2024, The Forum will be elevated into a vibrant and sophisticated central lifestyle connector. Its gross floor area will more than
double to around 20,000 sqm over three levels, providing a wide variety of upscale restaurants, specialty
shops and iconic concept stores in a biophilic environment,” it added.
“Ongoing construction works for RWS 2.0 strategy including Minion Land at the Universal Studios Singapore and the Singapore Oceanarium are progressing well with soft opening scheduled for early 2025. In addition, Equarius Hotel expansion and a world class bespoke health and wellness centre shall be major travel appeals for the near term. On the sustainability front, RWS has attained the highest tier of the Singapore Food Agency’s Farm-to-Table Recognition Programme, which recognises companies that source food ingredients from local producers. Putting local first in our procurement practices is a key tenet of our sustainable tourism approach, helping us become more resilient to global food supply disruptions.”
Maybank analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang said: “With seat capacity from China to Singapore recovering hastily, there is a lot of room for gaming operations to improve. Seat capacity from China to Singapore will improve further (May 2023: 51 per cent of May 2019 levels) to 65 per cent of 2019 levels by mid-year. This should lower airfares and encourage more Chinese to gamble in Singapore. Furthermore, the newly renovated 389-room Hotel Ora reopened in April 2023. This will allow Genting Singapore to ‘comp’ more rooms to attract premium gamblers.”
