Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. said it is on track to sustain its double-digit growth in gross gaming revenues in the first quarter as it speeds up expansion within Resorts World Manila.
TIHGI president and chief executive Kingson Sian said in an interview following the annual stockholders’ meeting that the company was set to open in July an expanded gaming floor that would add around 100 tables and 600 gaming machines. RWM will have a total of 365 gaming tables and 2,300 gaming machines once the expansion is completed.
Sian said the opening of the expansion gaming area would enable RWM to recover the number of gaming tables and slot machines it lost during the shooting incident in 2017.
Meanwhile, TIHGI is scheduled to open Hotel Okura Manila by the end of the year, bringing Resort World Manila’s hotel rooms to 3,555. The company recently opened Sheraton Hotel in January and Hilton Hotel in October last year.
With the opening of new facilities in the integrated resort and gaming complex, Sian expects traffic at RWM to reach between 40,000 and 50,000 a day as early as 2020 from 28,500 in 2018.
Sian also disclosed the company’s plan to start the fourth phase of the RWM expansion with the development of a 5,000 square-meter property for gaming and office for online gaming operators.
The project, which will address the growing demand for online gaming facilities, is slated for completion over the next 24 to 30 months.
TIGHI so far has invested $1.1 billion in the development of RWM.
Sian said TIHGI started the construction of three hotels in the $1-billion Westside City, its second integrated resort in Manila. The three hotels will open between 2021 and 2022 with over 2,400 rooms.
TIHGI reported a 53.8-percent increase in gross gaming revenues to P6.89 billion in the first quarter of the year. Non-gaming revenues jumped 112 percent to P1.23 billion.
“For the past two years, our efforts have been focused on rebuilding and expansion. That focus is reflected in our performance last year,” Sian said.
Share price of TIHGI on Friday fell 1.5 percent to close at P5.12.