From oyster farm to budding tourism haven
HENGQIN: Just a stone’s throw across a narrow waterway from the world’s largest gambling hub Macau, a former oyster farming island is being transformed into China’s newest tourism haven.
Dubbed by some as China’s answer to Florida’s Orlando – a global tourist magnet with its cluster of major theme parks – Hengqin has seen property prices more than double over the past two years.
While still a dusty mass of construction sites, Hengqin now draws millions annually to its anchor attraction, the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park, with a slew of hotel, malls and sprawling residential developments being built nearby.
Spanish soccer club Real Madrid announced last week that it would open an interactive “virtual reality” complex in Hengqin, in a partnership with Hong Kong-listed developer Lai Sun Group.
The 12,000sq m venue, set to open in 2021, will include virtual reality entertainment and a museum showcasing the club’s history.
The transformation of Hengqin, which is three times as large as Macau, is part of Beijing’s efforts to bolster links between Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region or the so-called “Greater Bay Area”, modelled after other dynamic global bay areas such as Tokyo and San Francisco.
“Hengqin will be the Orlando of China. Macau is Las Vegas (and) Hong Kong is New York,” said Larry Leung, an executive with Lai Sun that is helping to build the Real Madrid complex at its Novotown project in Hengqin.
“Within an hour, you can have them all.”
Novotown’s entertainment mix will also feature China’s first Lionsgate movie world with theme rides from blockbuster films such as The Hunger Games and Twilight, as well as a National Geographic educational centre.
High-end hotel chains and luxury yacht makers are also building more hotels and a marina on Hengqin.
Chinese officials see Hengqin helping Macau diversify away from casinos to a more wholesome tour- ism industry. More than 80% of Macau’s public revenues come from the gambling sector.
Businesses in Macau have been encouraged to invest in Hengqin with the government providing cheaper rent and tax subsidies.
Realtors expect that property prices will keep rising once a high speed rail station and a sea bridge linking Hong Kong are completed. — Reuters