Tiger Resort Leisure And Entertainment Incorporated has announced that it is on schedule to open the $2.4 billion first phase of its Okada Manila integrated casino resort before the end of the year and wants to kick things off by co-hosting the next installment of the Miss Universe pageant.
According to a report from the?Philippines online news domain GMANetwork.com, July saw Wanda Corazon Teshiba Tulfo-Teo, Tourism Secretary for the Philippines, announce that the 2017 edition of the annual international beauty contest is to be hosted in the Asian nation on January 30 while Okada Manila could be in the running as a potential co-host venue.
“We expect to be a significant sponsor of the event,” Steve Wolstenholme, Chief Operating Officer for Okada Manila, told the domain. “Whether it’s an in-kind or financial [sponsorship], the details are still under negotiation.”
Okada Manila, which is the brainchild of Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada, is located in Manila’s three-square-mile Entertainment City district, which is already home to the City Of Dreams and the Solaire Resort And Casino developments, and will be joined in 2018 by the giant Resorts World Bayshore project from Genting Hong Kong Limited and local conglomerate Alliance Global Group Incorporated.
Wolstenholme recently told Manila-based business publication BusinessWorld that Tiger Resort Leisure And Entertainment Incorporated had “completed around 85%” of Okada Manila and expects to hold a soft opening in November.
“We will open this year,” Wolstenholme told BusinessWorld. “That is our obligation to the Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation. The specifics [are] to be determined by our Chairman. It will be announced as soon as he releases that date [but] it certainly will be this year.”
When completed, Wolstenholme noted that the 53.25-acre project will offer a $30 million dancing water fountain alongside Asia’s largest indoor beach club in addition to a pair of hotel towers with a total of 993 rooms. Complimenting these, Okada Manila is to moreover feature a 441,300 sq ft casino with 3,000 slots and 500 gaming tables as well as an almost 33,000 sq ft spa in conjunction with numerous food, beverage and retail outlets.