Venetian Hotel of Macao

The Venetian Macao Resort-Hotel will play a crucial role in making Macao one of Asia's most exciting entertainment destinations and preeminent convention and exhibition venues. Large enough to hold ninety Boeing 747 jumbo jets, nowhere else in Asia will you find such a rare combination of facilities, attractions and amenities than at this 3,000 suite flagship property.

Sheldon Adelson is the mastermind behind Las Vegas Sands, Sands Macau and The Venetian Macau, as well as the visionary force behind the development of the Cotai strip. Adelson made his fortune in Vegas when he tapped into the business and group travel sector of the market. This enabled the Vegas strip to stay busy during the work week, as well as for the weekend vacationers. His focus on MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) catapulted the American Las Vegas into a world travel destination, attracting family and business travelers by providing a complete getaway entertainment roster, a casino-as-destination.

The Venetian Macao will boast the world’s biggest casino (some 600,000 square feet of gambling space, about five times the size of your state-of-the-art Vegas gaming floor), 3,000 hotel suites and acres of swimming pools, 850,000 square feet of shopping, a 15,000-seat showroom, and a 1.2-million-square-foot convention center. It also plans to house 15 fine dining restaurants.

Beyond that, Adelson intends to invest another $2 billion or so to put up hotel-mall-casino complexes that will open alongside the Venetian around the end of 2007. These Macau hotels will be run by leading hotel operators, such as Four Seasons and Shangri-La. (Las Vegas Sands Inc. will retain control of their showrooms and casinos.) And although it took at least 30 years for Vegas to become Vegas, Adelson figures it’ll take about five for Cotai to become Asia’s—and thus the world’s—biggest gambling and entertainment mecca.