Melco president hails Cyprus choice for IR

Location, government support and a complete surrounding touristic environment made Cyprus the right choice for establishing Melco’s first European integrated resort, board director and president of Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Evan Winkler, said.

In July of this year, the local gaming concessionaire opened its “City of Dreams Mediterranean” on the outskirts of the southern city of Limassol in Cyprus. The €600m (US$659.46m) investment included a 7,500 sq.m casino, the largest expo centre in Cyprus and 500 hotel rooms and suites.

During a seminar held at the 2023 Global Tourism Economy Forum, Winkler described the process that led to the resort opening, which added one more IR to the group’s three properties in Macau and Manila, Philippines.

“Our experience was in delivering that integrated resort model and experience to a fairly affluent group of customers here in Macau or the Philippines. So in the many years since we started looking at Europe, we started looking at opportunities that would fit into our DNA. We were looking to opportunities where we could deliver a premium experience, we already had guests where as part of our resort or marketing services we would already send them to luxury experiences in Europe,” Winkler pointed out.

Source: Asia Gaming Brief