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BSI ups ante in Saipan casino resort development
Best Sunshine International Ltd. senior vice president for corporate marketing Jacqueline Wu was the guest speaker in yesterday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting a Hyatt Regency Saipan’s SandCastle. (Mark Rabago)
Speaking before yesterday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s SandCastle, BSI senior vice president for corporate marketing Jacqueline Wu said the company is planning to construct 4,200 hotels and 300 villas on the island.
“So according to what we filed in the public domain in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and listed in Hong Kong, we will be building over 4,000 rooms—4,200 hotel rooms plus 300 villas.”
Aside from the over 4,000 hotel rooms, BSI’s current plan for the $7.1-billion integrated casino resort involves construction of a 600-seat theater, a 10,000-square-meter casino floor, 10,000-square-meter retail area, over 20 F&B outlets, and a theme park.
With the increased number of hotel rooms comes the increase in jobs needed for the $7.1-billion development, she said. “Even if it’s just 4,000 hotel rooms, that is 8,000 to 9,000 jobs.”
Besides the direct job creation, Wu said that ancillary business is also expected from BSI’s mega project.
“It’s not just about the people hired directly by the company but also how it impacts the local business community because there is indirect employment per se like retail shops. We will have all these retail shops and they will be recruiting sales assistants and logistics, etc., and again referring back to the Singapore and Macau case, those companies procure a lot of local materials—construction materials, procure services, logistics, and F&B supplies. All these are important components to make an integrated casino resort work.”
She asked Chamber members to help BSI in its multi-billion investment, adding that it will definitely give the CNMI another tourist attraction and help in the Marianas Visitors Authority’s destination enhancement efforts.
“So we need help and we need support of all of you in the CNMI and Saipan and make Saipan a must-visit destination. We need to all work together. Saipan and BSI together will form a masterpiece and putting the CNMI in the world travel map for the right reasons, a project for the people, a project for the CNMI,” she said in closing.
