City of Dreams means business

Sri Lanka’s City of Dreams integrated resort, built by John Keells Holdings, with a casino and Nuwa hotel by its partner Melco Resorts and Entertainment, expects to reposition Colombo to the top end of the tourism market, officials said.

The 1.2 billion Us dollar integrated resort was conceptualized in 2010-2011, after a 30-year war and John Keells was looking for ways to strengthen Sri Lanka’s tourism potential.

“We were also conscious that we were next door to India, which was growing at a rapid pace, and is continuing to grow even today, 11 years later,” JKH Chairman Krishan Balendra said.

“And we could see the potential for having that outbound Indian tourist market. But not just India.

“We are four hours away from the Middle East and other parts of South Asia, and very close even to Southeast Asia, so we have very big tourist arrivals from India, China, other Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East.”

“So, we were looking at what we should build to tap that opportunity, and looking around what was very impactful in the region were these integrated resorts, where you have the different components that we now have in place.”

The City of Dreams has a Cinnamon Hotel, Melco casino and its Nuwa Hotel, apartments, shopping mall, conference and banqueting space and restaurants which will have spillover effects similar to Marina Bay sands in Singapore, he said.