TRAVELLERS International Hotel Group Inc. (TIHGI), the gambling arm of businessman Andrew Tan, on Friday said it will spend up to P10 billion this year, mainly for the construction of the third phase of the expansion of Resorts World Manila in Pasay City.
“The combined costs for Phase 2 and Phase 3 [of the expansion of Resorts World Manila] is around $400 million to $450 million. So, the P8 billion to P10 billion capital expenditure [capex] will be for the completion of Phase 2 and mainly for the construction of Phase 3,” Kingson Sian, company president and CEO told reporters after the firm’s stockholders’ meeting on Friday.
TIHGI is a joint venture of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Malaysia’s Genting.
The third phase of development will house three hotels, more casino facilities and retail stores, Sian said.
The second phase will be completed in September and the bulk of the P8 billion to P10 billion capex will be utilized for the construction of Hilton and Sheraton hotels, as well as Maxims Hotel’s new wing, which will have 357, 391 and 191 rooms, respectively.
The third phase will have 14,000 square meters of gaming facility, and 3,200 sq m of retail stores.
Meanwhile, the second phase, which has no gaming facility, will have 228 new hotel rooms for Mariott Hotel Manila’s west wing plus additional entertainment areas in Remington Hotel.
“The ongoing expansion will increase existing inventory of hotel rooms from the current 1,700 rooms to 2,645 rooms. Together with over 18,000 sq m of retail space, a theater, the country’s largest ballroom and multiple entertainment venues, we are on course to becoming one of the premier integrated entertainment and tourism destinations in Asia,” Sian added.
The third phase of expansion, meanwhile, will be open in different stages, starting end of next year through 2018.
“At present, the nongaming business merely accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of our revenues, and that gaming remains our strongest revenue driver. But, hopefully, we want to increase the nongaming’s contributions up to 30 percent of our total revenues,” Sian said.
Last year gaming revenues amounted to P24.2 billion as against its nongaming revenue of P3.5 billion.
“With the oversupply situation [of gaming facilities] now, obviously, it will take time for the market to absorb it. The amount of supply comes in in such a short period of time. But having said that, our view of the future is very bright; otherwise, we will not be investing,” Sian added.
“We are hoping that we will be exempt from the liquor and smoking ban in our casinos,” he said, adding that the fourth phase of Resorts World Manila’s development will no longer have a casino facility. The construction of that phase will start in 2018 at the earliest.