City of Dreams sees lower losses in coming years

MANILA, Philippines - City of Dreams Manila expects to continue to narrow its losses in the coming years on the back of rosy prospects of the tourism sector as well as new infrastructure that could also bring in more visitors to the casinos in the area.

“We are optimistic on City of Dreams…hopefully our accounting losses will be reduced given improved operations in the following years.  In terms of performance in the coming years, we are very optimistic we have a fully opened integrated resort. We are continuing exploring our resources and the advantages of our facilities,” Melco Crown Philippines chairman and president Clarence Chung said yesterday.

At the same time, Chung said the industry has indeed become very competitive and the gaming environment in the region has declined.

“But having said that we in City of Dreams have done very well in the last two quarters in terms of ramping up, considering we are only open one year,” Chung said.

Geoff Andres, City of Dreams Manila property president, said the hotel and casino operator still has a huge potential to grow.

“We’re just getting started and we still have the big opportunity to go into the mainland Chinese market and one of the things on my wish list is easing the visa requirements for Chinese tourists. I think if we do that, that’s going to improve not only the gaming industry but the tourism industry as well. If you look around the world, everybody is doing that (making it easier for Chinese tourists,” Andres said.

According to Melco Crown Philippines, the local unit of Melco Crown Entertainment, casino revenues in the first quarter increased to P4.051 billion, up 108 percent from P1.951 billion a year ago.

Total net operation revenues during the quarter rose to P4.53 billion from P2.34 billion.

“The increase in total net operating revenues was primarily due to the ramp up of resort operations since the opening in December 2014,” it said.

As a result, net loss during the quarter decreased to P1.135 billion, or by 63 percent from P3.089 billion a year ago, which is related to improved operating revenues during the current quarter and lower expenses.

Two other integrated resorts are scheduled to open in Entertainment City – Universal Entertainment’s Tiger Resorts’ Manila Bay Resorts, slated to open at the end of the year and Resorts World Bayshare of the Genting Group and Alliance Global Group, which is targeted for completion by 2018.