By Ben Blaschke
The closure of two major non-gaming family attractions in Macau on Monday highlights just how difficult it is for operators to provide sustainable and profitable attractions, according to analysts.
Sands Cotai Central’s five-year partnership with DreamWorks Animation officially came to an end over the weekend with the family-themed DreamWorks Experience holding its last show on Sunday.
Franz Harary’s House of Magic – which has formed part of the entertainment offerings at Melco Resorts’ Studio City since it opened in 2015 – also closed its doors.
According to Sanford C Bernstein analyst Vitaly Umansky, the closures show that entertainment non-gaming remains a “weakness” in Macau due primarily to visitors spending only 1.3 days in the city on average.
“Because length of stay is so short, most customers have very little interest in spending so much time on entertainment since their free time in Macau is so limited,” Umansky told Inside Asian Gaming.
“Until (and really if) length of stay increases significantly, entertainment specific non-gaming will never be strong on a broad scale.”
Asked specifically about each attraction, Umansky added, “The DreamWorks experience has run its course – it was geared towards families with children (not core gaming customers). With some changes that Sands is contemplating to alter positioning of Cotai Central, it makes sense to end the Dream Works arrangement.
“House of Magic at Studio City was never that successful to begin with. As with Sands Cotai Central, the positioning of Studio City is going through some changes, so it makes sense to eliminate that show.”
Union Gaming’s Managing Director and Head of Asia Equity Research, Macau, Grant Govertsen, said both Sands China and Melco Resorts were left with no choice but to replace the attractions in an attempt to spark greater demand.
“It is likely that the DreamWorks experience has run its course after a multi-year run and will be replaced by another family-friendly attraction,” he said.
“While the profitability of certain non-gaming amenities like DreamWorks is uncertain, we do know that they were drivers of visitation to Sands China properties with the Sands China properties the typical go-to for families visitation Macau.
“As it relates to the House of Magic, I don’t think it ever caught on with the Macau customer base, so any replacement of it likely represents upside for the property.”
In its recent announcement on the end of the company’s DreamWorks partnership, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Brand Management, Ruth Boston, said Sands Resorts was “continuously striving to bring new and exciting entertainment to our resorts for our guests, visitors and in particular our family market to enjoy.
“As such we are currently looking for new family themed offerings of the same calibre for all of our guests to experience and we look forward to continuing to bring world-class entertainment to Macau.”
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