Venetian Macau resort to target Indian tourists

New Delhi, Sep 18 : Five-star resort Venetian Macau, owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp and located in Macau, China, will open offices in major Indian cities in a bid to attract more Indian tourists.

"We will open offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore by the year-end. Together with the Macau Government Tourist Office, we will offer special packages for Indian tourists during the upcoming festive season," Mark Russell, senior vice-president (sales and marketing) of Venetian Macau, told reporters here Friday.

He said the luxury resort would market itself as a perfect venue for Indian marriages to tap the country's tourist potential.

Indian weddings is a multi-million market. Even poor people spend a good amount of money to conduct weddings, Russell said.

The Venetian Macau is a 40-storey, 10.5 million square-feet property and has 3,000 suites.

The hotel's representatives in India are also looking for wedding and event managers, besides tour operators, to promote its resort among Indian travellers.

Venetian Macau had recently hosted some Indian weddings. "We have seen over 100 percent growth in the numbers of Indian tourists since the last year," said Russell.

"The IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) Awards-2009 programme was conducted at our resort. Our property has seen a 60 percent growth in the number of Indian visitors since the event took place," he added.

The IIFA award function was held at Bedika Macau in June this year.

Venetian Macau is also looking at the MICE (meeting, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) tourism segment, which contributes to around half of the Indian tourist arrivals.

Russell said the global recession had affected Venetian Macau's business.

"Worldwide recession has taken its toll. We too have been at losses, but we hope this would end soon."