A recent article by The Innovation Group’s Michael Vanaskie examines the casino cluster effect in spurring extraordinary tourism and gaming revenue growth in Macau and Manila. Naturally, other jurisdictions are trying to emulate that success, including Incheon in South Korea, where Paradise City opened its initial phase nearly two years ago and two more integrated resorts are being developed. With IRs done right, Incheon, about an hour from Seoul, could become a regional cluster for gaming and more.
Korea’s first casino operator, Paradise partnered with Japanese electronic game specialist Sega Sammy to create US$1.4 billion Paradise City, the first IR on the Korean peninsula. Paradise leads South Korea’s foreigner-only casino market – only one of the country’s 17 casinos is open to Korean nationals – and Paradise City sits on the doorstep of Incheon International Airport, the gateway to Korea, handling more than 60 million passengers annually.