In an interview with PLATFORM, Executive Vice Chairman of Sands China Ltd. Dr. Wilfred Wong discusses the future under the new concessions – what’s done and what’s to come. Investing in economic diversification, relying on the continuous training of local talent, and more – “We want them to be leaders”
If we didn’t believe in our future in Macao, we wouldn’t have made all these investments”
– Sands Macao is celebrating its 20th anniversary, followed by the growth of Sands China. Is it fair to draw parallels with Macao’s development in the last 20 years?
Wilfred Wong – Yes, the last 20 years have seen the liberalization of gambling and we have been fortunate to be able to operate in Macao as one of the concessionaires.
Our development over these two decades is almost synonymous with Macao’s “new” development in terms of integrated resorts and gaming. Every time we open a new establishment, it’s a milestone.
Twenty years ago, we opened the Sands Macao, we opened The Venetian Macao in 2007 and that immediately changed the landscape of the Cotai Strip. Back then we were the only ones on Cotai. What you see today is truly remarkable. We have never stopped investing in Macao and even during the pandemic we continued to build [The Londoner Macao].
We believed in the future of Macao, and we knew that even though we were temporarily closed, we would reopen to the world and be the first to offer new products.
We’re actually five or six companies in one, combining MICE, hotels, entertainment, retail… we even have transportation.
We are very pleased to have brought in the integrated resort model, which has been working very successfully in Las Vegas. The government is very supportive of what we do. We’re actually five or six companies in one, combining MICE, hotels, entertainment, retail… we even have transportation. The goal is to give our customers a total, seamless experience when they come to Macao. I think we have established this model, and the other concessionaires are doing it too, because they want to remain competitive.
…when we started to realize that at many times they couldn’t sell their products, especially during Chinese New Year, we started organizing the Sands Shopping Carnival for free.
– At the beginning of 2020, Macao was faced with a new reality. While other countries and regions gradually opened, the city remained “closed” for 3 years. For a tourism and leisure company, those must have been very difficult years. What lessons can be learned for the future?
W.W. – We have learned that we are an integral part of Macao and cannot operate alone.
We are now recovering from those three years, and we want our current 26,000 employees to know that our priority is to secure their jobs. Secondly, we have always wanted to take care of SMEs. With the pandemic, many of our purchases had decreased in volume, but we called our suppliers – around 2,000 – and asked them how we could help. Around 20% of our daily purchases come from SMEs, so we wanted to protect them.
On the other hand, when we started to realize that at many times they couldn’t sell their products, especially during Chinese New Year, we started organizing the Sands Shopping Carnival for free. All SMEs and retailers are welcome. This is the fifth year that we’ve organized this initiative which, over 4 days, welcomes around 100,000 visitors. It’s becoming a brand in its own right and works for locals and tourists alike.
In addition, as Macao wants to be known as a city of gastronomy, we opened several restaurants right after Covid-19, such as Gordon Ramsay’s and Mews. We have everything, you just have to choose.
I’d also like to stress that we haven’t stopped training our staff. We have the products, but we also need the service. We’ve continued to have all these courses and we’ve trained people so that they have the option to progress horizontally. There were around a thousand employees who chose to work in areas other than their original role. We felt it was a very difficult period, but we learned that we are a very important part of the social fabric and that everything we do has an impact on the community.
– In 2022, the new concessions were signed, with the government placing great emphasis on the enhanced role of concessionaires for economic diversification. Does this represent a major change in Sands China’s strategy?
W.W. – Whenever the government decides on a path, we must adjust our strategy. Fortunately, as Sands China has always been based on an integrated resort model, we are already diversified. Only 4% of our space is dedicated to gambling, the other 96% is hotels, shopping malls, theaters, stores, restaurants, and so on.
In the new concession we have committed to investing around 30 billion patacas over the next 10 years, and more than 90% of this will be in non-gaming activities. We’re going to build a new 18,000 square meter MICE pavilion, connected to The Venetian Macao’s current exhibition hall.
With larger halls, we also need to analyse the number of rooms available to receive such a large number of people. We’re doing this inventory with the government.
“We’re looking at the long-term future of the company. Many of these facilities will only come into play in the last cycle of the concession.”
– Is Hengqin a possibility?
W.W. – We’re looking at all the possibilities. The government is giving us some indications as to where we could increase the number of rooms. But we’re still taking the first steps. It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. We’re looking at the long-term future of the company. Many of these facilities will only come into play in the last cycle of the concession. If we didn’t believe in our future in Macau, we wouldn’t be making all these investments. When people ask me if we are confident about Sands China’s future in Macau, I say just look at what we are doing.
“If we did something on our own [in the areas to be revitalised], we would be in direct competition with SMEs and that would not be good.”
– Sands China will now be responsible for the urban redevelopment of several areas, including Rua das Estalagens. What is your opinion on these projects?
W.W. – We’ve been assigned some areas with very different characteristics, so there’s no uniform approach to revitalisation. But what we’re doing is integrating the old and the new, so that the neighborhood doesn’t lose its character. On the street you just mentioned, we look at what’s already there.
There are about 90 store fronts and about a third are vacant. If we did something on our own, we’d be in direct competition with SMEs and that would not be good. Instead, we’ve launched a recruitment program: if you’re an entrepreneur and you present a business proposal with some of your own money – a minimum threshold of 300,000 patacas – you’ll be put through a presentation session in which we’ll have a panel, made up of government officials, chambers of commerce and other entities.
If we like what you’re proposing, if it’s innovative and fits in with the environment, we’ll match the initial capital up to one million patacas. In other words, if you have half a million, we’ll give you 1 million, and you’ll have 1.5 million. We also contacted the banks and said: “This is a company you have to support. You can give them some operating capital.” So, they can easily have something like 2 million to start a small business there.
We want to ensure their success, and we ask all landlords to let these entrepreneurs see these vacant sites, so they can decide and negotiate directly with the owners. We even offered two classes to help them design the proposals to present to the panel of judges, with a total of 170 locals participating.
At the end of this month, they will have to close the business plan and in June they will make the presentation and there will be the evaluation. We hope to announce the successful candidates in July. This is our way of ensuring that the community is revitalised with new ideas and that SMEs benefit.
“We are in contact with an association of local artists to [beautify the areas to be revitalised]. We’re going to ask the artists to look at the roots, the history of the streets we’ve been given, and to paint the buildings to increase tourist interest.”
– Will that be enough to attract tourists?
W.W. – We also think it’s important to beautify the streets. We’re in contact with an association of local artists to do this. We’re going to ask the artists to look at the roots, the history of the streets we’ve been given, and to paint the buildings to increase tourist interest.
Another area for which we are responsible, the Pátio da Eterna Felicidade, is now being renovated by the government. It’s a preservation project. We’ve seen that it already has a lot of artistic activities, with many artists already having their studios there.
We’re thinking of creating an artists’ village, creating galleries, workshops, and other facilities. Perhaps we could also subsidise the artists to help them develop their activities. We like to think that we are the seed and that, once we have sown it, we want to guarantee the sustainability of the projects.
This is very important, because we can’t carry them around for too long. The former Iec Long Firecracker Factory and the Taipa Houses are projects that are also our responsibility and require a different approach.
When it’s all done, we’ll obviously have to work with the community to promote the area. And we have our own ways, by bringing tour group operators to Macao, or inviting celebrities, like David Beckham, and taking them to those streets and promoting it on social media.
“We’re giving local people every opportunity. We give them the best training, not just professional skills, but also management skills and ethical training. We want them to be leaders.”
– One of the people’s concerns is how to tackle all these new socio-economic challenges, making local employment a priority. Do you have a strategy for this?
W.W. – Around 92% of our management team is made up of locals. Twenty years ago, it was only 20%. We give local people every opportunity. We give them the best training, not just professional skills, but also management skills and ethical training. We want them to be leaders.
We have people who joined us 20 years ago who are now at vice-president level and leading entire departments. I’m not worried about that. We are very rigorous in our succession planning. Every year, we do an exercise to make sure that, whenever the need arises, we have people we can promote internally.
“We are also working hard with the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute to secure international conferences, as it takes years to decide a new location. If we win any major international conferences, perhaps the six concessionaires will have to come together, because the number of rooms available will be a challenge.”
– Foreign tourists. Do we have the necessary infrastructure?
W.W. – Macao is the city with the largest number of five-star hotels in the world. It overtook London last year. That’s our current position. We have to make sure that our standard of service leads Asia. That’s why we put a lot of effort into training our staff. A multicultural working environment that is welcoming to tourists from all over the world is very important.
Training and recruiting people with different cultures allows us to meet the needs of foreign visitors. In addition, we are bringing tour group operators to Macao, we have representatives abroad to promote the city, and we go to traveling exhibitions abroad on our own and together with the Macao Government Tourism Office.
We’re doing everything we can. We are also training our staff in different languages. We hope that the percentage of foreign tourists can increase. But obviously we are facing a difficult situation after Covid-19. Long-distance travel is still not that popular and it will take some time to get back into the habit.
– In the context of diversification, Las Vegas is always held up as an example to follow. Currently, more than 60% of Las Vegas’ revenues are non-gaming. In your opinion, what are the areas in which Macao needs to grow to get closer to these figures?
W.W. – Las Vegas is an entertainment capital. It’s not just about gambling, but also about hotels, MICE and entertainment. Macao is moving in that direction. The government has given guidelines on how the gambling industry should develop and has set limits.
We hope to invest more and more in cultural activities, sporting events, gastronomy and the construction of new MICE facilities. We are also working hard with the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute to secure international conferences, as it takes years to decide a new location.
If we win any major international conferences, perhaps the six concessionaires will have to come together, because the number of rooms available will be a challenge. We only have 47,000 rooms, while Las Vegas has 150,000 rooms. And these larger conferences can bring in up to 10,000 people at a time.
The International Congress and Exhibition Association (ICCA) held its regional congress here recently. And they organise these MICE activities worldwide, so they are important in deciding whether Macao is fit to host major events in the future.
