On Tuesday 12 February, the IR Promotion Council met at the prefectural office of Osaka prefecture/city and formally confirmed the Osaka IR Fundamentals Plan, including specific figures relating to the expected size of an Osaka integrated resort and scale of investment.
According to the Sankei Shimbun, the primary concept of the plan is to build “the world’s greatest growth IR” with an investment of JPY930 billion (US$8.4 billion) and featuring Japan’s largest MICE facility covering more than 100,000 square meters.
The MICE facility has been highlighted as the new main feature of an Osaka IR and would be larger than Japan’s current biggest exhibition hall, Tokyo Big Site, which is just north of 95,000 square meters. The capacity of the largest conference hall will be 6,000 people and over 12,000 people across the MICE facility as a whole – once again beating the current largest capacity hall in Japan, Tokyo International Forum.
The IR Promotion Council has put the expected total scale of investment in an Osaka IR at JPY930 billion with annual sales estimated to be JPY480 billion, of which around JPY380 billion would be casino sales.
Osaka Prefectural Governor Ichiro Matsui has previously stated, “We need world-class facilities not just for tourists but also to meet the requirements of business travelers. [Providing for them] will lead to an increase in inbound foreign visitor income.”
As reported by IAG, the IR is expected to attract 24.8 million visitors annually of which 18.9 million are forecast to use facilities other than the casino.
The “growth” in “the world’s greatest growth IR” concept is divided into three phases. The first phase is the IR with commercial MICE facilities and a casino. The second phase is an entertainment facility using the 2025 World Expo site. The third phase is building resort facilities.
If this large Osaka Bay area project proves sustainable, the economic ripple effect may expand much further.
