PRESIDENT AND CEO
Travellers International Hotel Group
POWER SCORE: 739
POSITION LAST YEAR: 40
CLAIMS TO FAME
- Has led Resorts World Manila, now Newport World Resorts, since its 2009 launch
- Long awaited Entertainment City project taking shape
THE PANDEMIC and Chinese government pressure combined to make Kingson Sian’s life rather interesting in 2022. The coronavirus wreaked havoc on cruise liners around the globe, and Travellers partner Genting Hong Kong was no exception. The Genting subsidiary and cruise liner operator is about to be wound up and its share in Travellers likely sold to Travellers parent Alliance Global Group.
That consolidation of ownership in Travellers’ Newport World Resorts, formerly Resorts World Manila, would be a welcome move for the Filipino owners of Manila’s first integrated resort.
At the less salubrious end of the M&A spectrum, Travellers’ interest in Suncity-backed IR Westside City remains a potential boon for the company, but the disastrous fate of Suncity junket titan Alvin Chau – now on trial in Macau for illegal gambling and out of the Power 50 list for the first time since 2009 – has triggered an ownership and executive reshuffle that will impact Travellers’ partners in Entertainment City’s fifth IR in ways yet to unfold.
Throughout all of this, Sian has presided over a stable casino, hotel and entertainment precinct that serves the expanding, gaming-positive Philippine middle class and serves it well. The latest evidence of this? The lush October launch of an expanded rewards and loyalty program for the property’s 2 million members.
For the full list of 2022 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
