Asian Travelers Returning to Razon-owned Casino Resorts

Chinese and South Korean travelers have returned to the Philippines, thanks to tycoon Enrique Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which runs the integrated casino resort Solaire Resort & Casino.

Travelers from these two nations and other Asian nations have increased, according to Razon.

He said that this was the result of South Korea and China lifting COVID-19-related restrictions and lockdowns.

Bloomberry anticipates that the pattern will hold this year.

According to credit rating agency Fitch, air rates were high and international travel was still roughly 70% below pre-pandemic levels in early April.

However, it stated that flights from China to Southeast Asia were “ramping up quickly.”

The easing of travel restrictions in the Philippines and other nations, according to Razon, has drawn travelers back to Solaire, including big-time gamers.

Revenues from VIP, mass table, and electronic gaming at Solaire reached P16.5 billion, P16.8 billion, and P16.9 billion, respectively, in 2017, reflecting increases of 144%, 48%, and 77% over the previous year.

According to Bloomberry, the mass tables and electronic gaming markets have both fully recovered from the pandemic.

Due to this, Solaire’s gross gaming income increased to P50.1 billion last year from P27.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 81%.

On net revenue of P38.9 billion, up P22 billion from the previous year, net profitability of P5.1 billion was achieved, reversing a net loss of P4.2 billion the previous year.

Bloomberry reported a net income of P1.1 billion for the fourth quarter alone, turning around a P1.3 billion net loss.

Meanwhile, non-gaming revenues increased to P6.7 billion for 2022, more than doubling the P3.3 billion brought in the year before. Consolidated non-gaming revenue for the fourth quarter was P2.2 billion, a 123 percent increase over the corresponding period in 2021.

The non-gaming revenue of Solaire for the year was P6.7 billion, which was also an increase from 2021. Hotel occupancy increased from 19.2 percent in 2021 to 53.7 percent in 2022.

Razon claimed that with business picking up again, Bloomberry is now concentrating on its expansion and plans to open Solaire North, an integrated casino resort in Quezon City, in the first three months of 2024.

In Ternate, Cavite, Bloomberry might perhaps build a second casino resort.

There are currently no set plans for the Ternate project, according to Razon. “We just land banked this area, we acquired land in this area, but any plans for that will come after we open Solaire North,” Razon added.