Upcoming S Korea casino to be closed to locals; There are 17 casinos in South Korea, but only one is open to Koreans
April 2, 2014 Leave a comment
Upcoming S Korea casino to be closed to locals despite potential benefits
By Korea Bureau Chief Lim Yun Suk
POSTED: 21 Mar 2014 16:37
South Korea is planning to build its first Las Vegas-style casino and entertainment resort. But the integrated resort will be closed to locals, at least for the time being.
SEOUL: South Korea is planning to build its first Las Vegas-style casino and entertainment resort.
If all goes well, the project by Caesars Entertainment, OUE and Indonesian property developer Lippo can open in a matter of years.
But the integrated resort will be closed to locals, at least for the time being.
There are 17 casinos in South Korea, but only one is open to Koreans.
It is located in the province of Kangwon, two and a half hours north of the capital.
Foreign investors have been pushing the government to open the doors to locals, but so far, the government has said no.
It is sticking to its guns even for the country’s first foreign-owned casino resort.
Kim Ki-hong, director of the ministry’s tourism bureau, said: “Without the public approval, it’s impossible to even think about opening the casinos to Koreans.”
Allowing Koreans access to casinos is a major concern for foreign investors of integrated resorts.
They said the government needs to reconsider its stance because it could be a game changer.
Suh Won Suk, professor of tourism studies at Kyunghee University, said: “If we build a mega-sized integrated resort allowing Koreans to enter the casinos, we can construct them as large as the integrated resorts that are being built in other Asian countries.
“If we have those mega-sized resorts, we can upgrade our tourism infrastructure, which would bring in much more economic benefits.”
Still, the current benefits are substantial.
Construction of the gambling, hotel and shopping haven will create 8,000 jobs between 2014 and 2018.
It is also expected to bring in more than US$800 million in tourist income – with a significant amount from China.
Mr Suh said: “Right now, the top customers to the integrated resorts in Asia are the Chinese tourists. And so if we have that integrated resort with the casino, it will be a very big attraction to the Chinese.”
South Korea plans to bring in about 10 million Chinese visitors a year by 2020, compared with 4.3 million last year – an increase of about 53 per cent from 2012.
Chinese visitors make up more than a third of total tourist arrivals, and they accounted for 41 percent of visitors to the country’s casinos in 2012.
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