Driving the development of Macao as World Centre of Tourism and Leisure through integration, innovation, and inclusion
MACAO, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At Tuesday’s opening ceremony of G2E Asia 2026, the annual trade show and conference for the Asian gaming industry, Grant Chum, chief executive officer and executive director of Sands China Ltd., delivered the keynote address to 200 industry leaders and tourism stakeholders from across the region at The Venetian® Macao. The keynote shed light on insights to Macao’s integrated tourism development and pathways to its citywide diversification.
Themed “Evolving Together: Advancing Macao’s Diversification Through Integration, Innovation, and Inclusion,“ the keynote speech outlined how Sands China’s visionary integration, transformative innovation, and inclusive growth have collectively shaped a blueprint for Macao’s sustainable development.
Such a forward-looking blueprint traces back to the far-sighted vision of Sheldon G. Adelson, the late founder of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Under his leadership, the group’s first property in Macao, Sands® Macao, was launched in 2004; it was followed by the 2007 launch of The Venetian® Macao, the city’s first large-scale integrated resort that merges retail, entertainment, hospitality, and MICE facilities. Ever since, Sands China has laid the foundation for the Cotai Strip, ushering in a new era for Macao’s tourism industry.
To support Macao’s economic diversification, Sands China has continuously invested in a holistic focus on hospitality, MICE, entertainment, and retail. Its 14,000-seat Venetian Arena, constantly staging large-scale concerts and performances by international superstars, has played a key role in positioning Macao more prominently on the global stage.
The company also operates over 1.6 million square feet of MICE facilities, instrumental in drawing world-class MICE events and a large flow of business visitors to Macao, extending visitors’ stay, and further strengthening Macao’s status as a leading business tourism destination in Asia. In addition, Sands China owns the city’s largest retail offering, comprising nearly 780 world-renowned duty-free retail outlets, providing strong support for the development of Macao’s retail sector.
As the pioneer of the integrated resort model in Macao, Sands China has remained steadfast in fostering the city’s economic diversification for over 20 years and continues to hold strong confidence in its future development. With the leadership of the central and the Macao SAR governments, Macao’s long-term political stability under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework has positioned the city as a safe, resilient operating environment for long-term investment, sustained development, and high-quality growth. Macao further benefits from strong organic demand – driven by its proximity to a population of nearly 90 million in the Greater Bay Area and its connectivity to key global markets. Together with tourism infrastructure developed by Sands China and industry peers over years, the synergy that has formed enables Macao to continuously attract diverse groups of tourists and effectively capture visitor demand.
Furthermore, Macao’s supply advantage in having an unmatched critical mass of high-quality integrated resorts, together with government-backed infrastructure such as the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, have further enabled the scale and efficiency of Macao’s tourism ecosystem and sustained its competitiveness.
Looking ahead, Chum underscored the growing importance of the “Event Economy” as a key driver of the next phase of Macao’s diversification journey, with purposeful programming playing an increasingly strategic role in attracting international visitors and facilitating further economic diversification. The future focus for Sands China is on the curation of globally significant events to maximize impact and long-term value. Crucially, such events generate a broader spillover effect across the city’s economy, benefitting a wider scope of industries.
Flagship entertainment and sports events are also identified as powerful brand amplifiers for the city. In particular, The NBA China Games in October 2025 marked a significant milestone. It generated approximately 3 billion online impressions on social media platforms across the Chinese mainland and significantly enhanced Macao’s visibility within global sports and entertainment networks. Around the event, Sands China curated around 100 extended activities and initiatives, including NBA House, the Impact Week community event, fan engagement, and Macao’s first NBA flagship store, ensuring the impact extended beyond the arena into the wider community.
The significance of sustainable diversification lies not only in tourism benefits, but also in creating meaningful and lasting contributions to the local community. By extending the synergy from large-scale events, Sands China has endeavoured to promote community care, bolstering volunteer service, fostering the development of Macao’s arts and culture, empowering SMEs, and advancing community revitalization – ensuring tourism growth drives broader participation and shared benefits across society.
Sands China reaffirms its unwavering confidence in Macao’s future and pledges to continue investing in high-quality non-gaming projects, working closely with the government, industry and Macao community to further facilitate the city’s development as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.
About Sands China Ltd.
Sands China Ltd. (Sands China or the Company) is incorporated in the Cayman Islands with limited liability and is listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEx: 1928). Sands China is the largest operator of integrated resorts in Macao. The Company’s integrated resorts on the Cotai Strip comprise The Venetian® Macao, The Plaza® Macao, The Parisian® Macao and The Londoner® Macao. The Company also owns and operates Sands® Macao on the Macao peninsula. The Company’s portfolio features a diversified mix of leisure and business attractions and transportation operations, including large meeting and convention facilities; a wide range of restaurants; shopping malls; world-class entertainment at The Venetian Arena, The Londoner Arena, The Venetian Theatre, The Parisian Theatre, The Londoner Theatre and Sands Theatre; and a high-speed Cotai Water Jet ferry service between Hong Kong and Macao. The Company’s Cotai Strip portfolio has the goal of contributing to Macao’s transformation into a world centre of tourism and leisure. Sands China is a subsidiary of global resort developer Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS).
For more information, please visit www.sandschina.com.
Media contacts:
Corporate Communications, Sands China Ltd.
Mabel Wu
Tel: +853 8118 2268
Email: mabel.wu@sands.com.mo
Jesse Chiang
Tel: +853 8118 2054
Email: jesse.chiang@sands.com.mo
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SOURCE Sands China Ltd.
