Ruth Boston | VP for destination marketing and sales at Sands China: ‘Japan is among our top five markets’

Ruth Boston

Ruth Boston is the vice president for destination marketing and sales at Sands China Ltd. She attended the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) and tourism roadshow held in Tokyo last week, which aimed to attract visitors to Sands China resorts in the MSAR.

The Tokyo roadshow was the fourth of 11 planned events across Asia. The previous three were held in Beijing, Shanghai and Osaka. Further events have been planned for Taiwan, South Korea and India.
The Times sat down with Ruth Boston last week to explore how Sands is developing its role in Macau’s MICE sector, and the business impact of the roadshows as the concessionaire moves to diversify its tourism offerings.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – Why organize roadshows like these?
Ruth Boston (RB) – The idea behind these roadshows is to give local end-users and intermediaries, like travel agents, a more in-depth understanding of our products and offerings. The attendees of the event are all such end-­users or intermediaries […] who we are targeting because they can influence the decision [of an organization] to book a trip to Macau. In this series of events, we are targeting both tourism and MICE opportunities. [Our attention is] really split down the middle. Both are very important to us and we want to grow both areas. We are holding events in Tokyo and Osaka because Japan is among our top five markets, having always been very important to Macau resorts.

MDT – Tokyo is the fourth in a series of 11 such events. How successful are they shaping up to be?
RB – These roadshows are part of a whole campaign. Nothing replaces relationships with salespeople. Customers are always going to desire service, even in the age of technology. So roadshows are very important in continuing to get our presence out, and even in understanding changes in the market. But they are only one component of a larger campaign.
That being said, so far this year the leads [sales prospects] are up from the Japan market. We have also had a lot of success more generally in the last few years, partly due to the size of our resorts and the range of services we can offer.

MDT – What does Sands China envision for its role in the MICE market?
RB – Sands China is a major player in the [Macau] MICE market. It has always been a strong part of our offerings and [this is] something we are focusing on now. It helps to have the support of the government and of IPIM [Trade and Investment Promotion Institute]. We feel that there is a lot of potential for growth in this market. We will finish this year strongly in terms of MICE business, and that is partly due to the strong international brands we have [in Macau] like Holiday Inn, Conrad, Sheraton and St. Regis, which pull in many types of customers from around the world. There is also a lot of choice, from budget Holiday Inn, to the Parisian and Venetian which offer themed entertainment. So all the properties have their own strengths.
One advantage of Sands’ offerings is that some of our resorts are actually connected [via footbridge], allowing businesses to host an event in more than one venue. For example, we won some business last year for an event that will be held between The Venetian and The Parisian. And now, with the completion of the Parisian, we will have a total land space in Macau of over 140,000 square meters for MICE events.

MDT – What are some of the challenges you face when trying to attract MICE business to Macau?
RB – Organizers want to know, when choosing a venue, that there are a lot of opportunities around for things for delegates to do on their day off. For those who don’t know Macau, the question is always: what else is there to do?
Those closest to us [geographically] know that there are plenty of things to do in Macau outside gaming. And people are spreading the message that there is more to do, for example in heritage. However people in the West know less [about Macau’s offerings]; they want to know what there is to do aside from gaming – some special thing that they can use to draw their customers [to the territory]. It is about a destination as a package. People aren’t always aware of all the other attractions in Macau. When potential businesses come to Macau for on-site inspections [to determine the territory’s suitability for MICE events] they return with a completely different opinion.

MDT – What about infrastructure in Macau? Does this present a challenge?
RB – More connectivity with the Macau airport would probably lead to more visitors, as will the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-­Macau Bridge and the Light Rail Transit [LRT] project. […] But Hong Kong acts a very strong hub, bringing visitors and business to Macau. Sometimes business [from outside the region] can be a little apprehensive about the operational challenge of ferrying a group from Hong Kong to Macau, but once they make this journey they see how comfortable and easy it is!
And there are also solutions to get around this ‘challenge.’ For example, the ferry operators at Hong Kong’s airport can do individual charter ferries to bring passengers to Macau. We have worked out a way to make this cost-effective too.

MDT – Sands China is organizing roadshow events in Mumbai and New Delhi. How important is the India market for MICE?
RB – India remains a very important market for us as Indians travel more and more. Today, they are going all over the world, so in Macau we organize a lot of meetings for Indian businesses. For the India market, we are competing with places like Dubai, which is a similar distance [from some places in India] as Macau. That’s why it’s so important for us to educate customers about roadshows like these so they better understand that there is more to Macau than just gaming.
*The writer was in Tokyo at the invitation of Sands China Ltd. Daniel Beitler, Tokyo*