By Christopher Khoo
This is the first in a series of contribution pieces to highlight the opportunities and challenges of integrated resorts and help Korea to better cope with heated competition among Asian countries to attract more international tourists and revitalize the economy. – ED.
In 2004, Singapore’s minister for trade and industry’s announcement in parliament that the city state was open to the possibility of having a casino was a major shock. Casinos had been banned in Singapore since the nation’s founding, and any suggestion to introduce them, whether from within the government or external parties, was always met with a firm “no.” Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew even told a casino magnate, “Over my dead body.”
The…