International hotel applauds Indian trade

Appreciating the support of its trade partners in India, The Venetian Macao organised an awards ceremony in Mumbai while launching new offers on its sidelines. It also announced its fourth ‘new generation’ property on the Cotai Strip to open in 2016 – the

With almost eight per cent of its total non-gaming occupancy comprising Indian guests, The Venetian Macao is rejigging its market priorities. In a first, the hotel held an exclusive awards ceremony in Mumbai for its trade partners in India.

Brendon Elliott, VP (Sales & Resort Marketing) at The Venetian Macao, who was giving away the awards, said, “This is the first time we have had an awards ceremony outside Macao. The idea is to show the trade that we continue to support them. India has been an integral partner in our success over the last five years. We have more Indians in our hotel than any large hotel in India at any given time.”

Elliott added that the ability to grow is limited by air accessibility. However, Cathay Pacific and DragonAir have recently started services from Kolkata and a few other Indian cities to Hong Kong. “Our key source markets are Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, which interestingly is our third- largest Indian

Our key source markets are Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, which interestingly is our third-largest Indian market despite no direct connections. In the South, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai are our priority markets

market despite no direct connections. In the South, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai are our priority markets.” Speaking about connectivity, Elliott says that Macao’s biggest competitor is Dubai that has a lot of direct connections. “However, a bridge that will connect Macao to Hong Kong by 2016 will bring us more tourists via a 25-minute bus ride,” he adds.

Indians love a bargain

Discussing the Indian traveller behaviour, he says, “We get a lot of families and groups with two to three generations travelling together. They also want Indian food when travelling outside India, which is why we introduced our Michelin-star Indian restaurant called The Golden Peacock. ‘Indian Honkies’ or the local Indian community in Hong Kong, is also one of our biggest markets.”

He adds that Indians love a bargain and prefer packages that have a lot of inclusions. “India is the number one valuepackage market and 40 per cent of our packages sold in Q3-Q4 were sold here,” he said. The Venetian introduced a two-week offer on Dreamworks’ ShrekFest – a breakfast buffet with popular DreamWorks characters.

The Venetian is also promoting Chimelong Resort - the largest waterpark near Macao – in the Indian market as a package through its distribution partners although it is not part of the Sands Group. Indians will require a Chinese visa to visit it.

The biggest announcement, however, is its Parisian Macao, touted as the next-gen- eration Venetian. Elliott says, “It will be ready by 2016 and will re-ignite the demand from India. But we will start promoting it only later as India is a last-minute market.”