Travellers on track to becoming Phl’s largest leisure, entertainment firm

MANILA, Philippines - The partnership between real estate tycoon Andrew Tan and Malaysia’s Genting Group is on track to becoming the biggest leisure and entertainment company in the Philippines with the completion of its two integrated gaming hubs.

Travellers International Hotel Group, the joint venture between Tan’s holding firm Alliance Group Inc. and Malaysian-based conglomerate Genting, broke ground yesterday  on its second  integrated gaming hub, Bayshore City Resorts World, slated for opening by the fourth quarter of 2018. Its first casino hub, Resorts World Manila (RWM), opened in 2009.

Bayshore City, located at Pagcor Entertainment City, will make available at least 1,500 hotel rooms operated by global brands The Westin Hotel Manila Bayshore of the Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resort Group, Hotel Okura Manila and the Genting Grand and Crockfords Tower of the Genting Group.

Combined with RWM, Bayshore City will make the Travellers International the biggest leisure and gaming operator in the Philippines, offering a total of about 5,100 hotel rooms.

“With the current developments at both Resorts World Manila and Bayshore City Resorts World properties, Travellers continues to push the envelope in the integrated resort industry as it will be the only player that offers global brands like Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, Westin and Okura hotels,” Travellers International president Kingson Sian said.

Bayshore City, which is seen to accommodate 1.5 million tourists a year , will be the last of the four  gaming proponents to rise in the Las Vegas-like Pagcor Entertainment City in Pasay City,

Aside from hotels, Bayshore City will also have a mall, a 3,000-seater Grand Opera House, a shopping mall, residential towers and a gaming area that will be much bigger than Traveller’s existing facility in Newport City across NAIA International Airport Terminal 3.

Bayshore City is estimated to cost at least $1.1 billion.  Funding for the project will come from a combination of debt and equity.

Pagcor chairman and CEO Cristino L. Naguiat Jr. said Entertainment City, located on 100 hectares of reclaimed land along Manila Bay, is not only poised to become the country’s premier gaming destination but is also seen to lead the next wave of growth in the necropolis.

“The Philippines’ quest to be a major regional leisure and entertainment destination is rapidly taking shape in Entertainment City,” Naguiat said.

Sian said Bayshore City will provide at least 8,000 jobs and contribute to the local economy.