A ceremony was held on Thursday to break ground for the construction of Minion Land, a non-gaming attraction at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino complex in Singapore.
Minion Land – due to open in 2024 – is based on the popular Hollywood animation franchise centred on the “Minions” characters.
Among the attractions at Minion Land will be “Despicable Me Minion Mayhem”, described as an “immersive motion-simulator 3D ride”.
The area will complement the existing Universal Studios Singapore theme park facilities at Resorts World Sentosa. Minion Land will part of what the management of the casino and tourism facility calls “RWS 2.0”.
Resorts World Sentosa’s promoter, Genting Singapore Ltd, has pledged to the Singapore authorities to spend SGD4.5 billion (US$3.3 billion) on expanding the resort.
Tan Hee Teck, now the company’s chief executive – who attended Thursday’s ground breaking ceremony – said in recent commentary to shareholders that Resorts World Sentosa was looking to expand its customer base to include gambling clients interested in general leisure.
Alvin Tan, Singapore’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, also attended the ceremony to mark construction starting on Minion Land.
He was cited in Resorts World Sentosa’s press release as saying: “I am very optimistic that with the easing of restrictions and the opening of travel, there will soon be more people coming in to Resorts World Sentosa, to Universal Studios Singapore, and to Minion Land when it opens in 2024.”
Visitor volume to Singapore grew 472.2 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2022, to 540,430 arrivals, according to data issued by the city-state’s tourism board.
The improvement coincided with relaxation of rules on inbound travel, starting from April 1.
