Q9:Casinos only attract gamblers. Why does the Government want to attract gamblers? Are we sure we can attract many gamblers to Singapore?
Ans: Our aim is to target tourists and overseas visitors, not gamblers. Depending on the product offerings of the IR, the type of customers can vary widely. Las Vegas and Atlantic City are two foremost destinations in the US with casinos. However, they attract very different types of customers. Las Vegas offers a wide range of iconic destination resorts, whereas Atlantic City has smaller gaming establishments with limited world-class amenities. In a study of visitors to these two cities, almost 90% of visitors to Atlantic City state that they visit primarily to gamble. In contrast, only 5% of visitors to Las Vegas in 2003 do so because of gaming. Please refer to figure 1 below. Another example is in Bahamas. Casinos have been legal prior to 1994 when Kerzner International transformed Atlantis in the Bahamas into a destination resort. The example of Bahamas prior to 1994 show that having casinos to attract gamblers will not work in boosting the tourism industry. What is needed is a world-class resort. This is what Kerzner did in 1995, and revenue per available room night (RevPAR) rose sharply from US$43 in 1994 to US$201 in 2003. In addition, hotel occupancy rose from below 65% in 1993 to a healthy 80% in 2003. Please refer to figure 2 below.
