SINGAPORE — Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is an iconic integrated resort in Singapore, known for its striking architecture and luxurious amenities. The resort, which opened in 2010, is a centerpiece of the city-state’s metropolitan skyline, consisting of three 55-story towers topped by a massive sky park, known as the Sands SkyPark.
This rooftop area, perhaps the most famous feature of the resort, offers a 360-degree view of Singapore’s cityscape and the surrounding Marina Bay. It also features an infinity pool, one of the highest in the world.
Located in the heart of the city’s business and finance hub, the integrated resort is also home to a convention center which hosts major business events throughout the whole year, a luxury hotel, a shopping mall featuring high-end brands, multiple fine dining options, theaters that host Broadway musicals and other performances, and the ArtScience Museum known for its lotus-like shape.
All these features are what come into travelers’ minds when they think of trips to Singapore, either for leisure or business. MBS and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), another integrated resort on Sentosa Island that is more focused on family-friendly attractions, established themselves as the most-visited paid tourist attractions in Singapore almost immediately after opening in 2010 — in 2023, 48 percent of 13.6 million international travelers to Singapore visited the two integrated resorts.
The two integrated resorts have had a profound impact on Singapore’s economy, boosting its tourism sector and “contributed 1 to 2 percent” of the city-state’s annual 스포츠 GDP growth before the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said in 2019. Tourist arrivals doubled to 19.1 million over a decade through 2019.
The integrated resorts have also created thousands of jobs, both directly within the resorts and indirectly through supporting industries such as hospitality, retail and transportation.
The success of the integrated resorts is reflected in the sharp increase in international visitor arrivals and higher tourist spending. Singapore’s reputation as a global tourist destination has been bolstered, with the integrated resorts playing a central role in this transformation.
While the economic benefits of the resorts are undeniable, the economic sustainability of the integrated resorts stems from their open casinos, which take less than 5 percent of the property’s floor space.
According to MBS’s annual report, the gaming and non-gaming ratio of the integrated resort’s sales in 2022 stood at 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent.
RWS, developed by Genting Singapore during the same period as the MBS, also had its gaming-to-non-gaming ratio of sales standing at 72 percent to 28 percent for the same year, according to its annual report.