Midan City Resort Complex with 750 room and casino to open in 2022
With news about the IR project in Midan City, Incheon, back on track with construction plans, the South Korean casino industry looks like moving forward towards recovering from setbacks from the Covid pandemic, after more than one year. The Midan City Resort Complex is expected to eventually include a casino, 750 hotel rooms, a theatre, and a convention space once it is operational. Theoretically, the opening should come by March 2022.
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has granted a twelve-month extension to the previous construction deadline giving the Midan City project’s now full owner, Guangzhou R&F Properties, the regulatory breathing space it needs to complete the project during the new normal. The former “Caesars Korea”, as was called the Midan City IR project, is no longer part of Caesars Entertainment.
The Midan City Resort is likely to open before the Mohegan’s Inspire Resort, also in Incheon, as the local company also applied for a six-month delay in the agreed June 2022 opening date and could possibly be delayed until 2023. As far as is known, Mohegan is planning to put up the money needed to resume the construction of the facility, now about 15 percent of the way toward completion, amid news of a major leadership shakeup at the firm, with Mohegan President and CEO Mario Kontomerkos, stepping down at the end of this month.
Meanwhile, in Seoul, there has are good news coming from Grand Korea Leisure, as the state-run firm was finally able to reopen its two foreigner-only casinos in the capital city, having been shuttered since November 24. Needless to say, celebrations are muted by the fact that Covid is not yet fully contained, with just 20 percent hosting availability owing to health and safety restrictions.
Looking towards the future, however, GKL announced yesterday that it has signed an industry-academic cooperation agreement with three universities and 32 high schools to develop a tourism-related curriculum and to nurture young talents. GKL President Yoo Tae-yeol commented, “The entire tourism industry is in a more difficult situation than ever due to Covid-19, but through this agreement, we hope that students will grow into future tourism talents and help K-Tourism take a leap forward.”
