Inspire Arena leads Mohegan debut in Asia gaming resort biz

Nov 30, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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The new Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort in South Korea will focus during its first-phase soft opening on attracting locals for entertainment events at its Inspire Arena (pictured). The resort, launching with non-gaming amenities today (Thursday), also expects to draw Chinese and Japanese for K-pop awards and other gatherings, as it awaits its licence to run a foreigner-only casino on site, according to Chen Si, Inspire’s president, in an interview with GGRAsia.

Gaming facilities might open by lunar new year in the first quarter next year, according to previous statements by the management.

Until then, “our building has a number of non-casino amenities for revenue,” said Mr Si.

“The hotel towers, convention hall, and arena are the cornerstones in Phase 1. The resort is mainly aimed at Koreans first,” he added.

The Inspire property is the first foray into Asia by the United States-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, which trades as Mohegan Gaming. What the promoter terms “Phase 1a” has seen capital expenditure of circa KRW2.00 trillion (US$1.55 billion currently), with that amount fully deployed, said the property president.

Mr Si stated that Chinese and Japanese customers were “already showing interest in the venue,” notably for the Melon Music Awards (MMA) 2023 on Saturday (December 2), a K-pop event anticipated to draw 12,000 attendees. “We use social media in South Korea, China, and Japan online,” including “37,000 followers on our Instagram account,” to promote events, he explained.

Mr Si said a strategy to attract customers to non-gaming events was to “pay expert marketers to use our non-gaming amenities to drive foreigner stays and participation”.

Crowd-pulling arena

Mohegan Gaming describes Inspire Arena as the first multi-purpose indoor performance venue in South Korea, with a total capacity of 15,000 seats.

For Saturday’s Melon Music Awards, the resort will have frequent shuttle buses from nearby Incheon International Airport, as well as downtown Seoul.

After that gathering, Inspire Arena will host successively: solo concerts by South Korean singer Taemin, of K-pop ensemble SHINee, on December 16 and 17; the SBS Music Awards 2023 at Christmas; and concerts by South Korean pop duo TVXQ on December 30 and 31.

Mr Si said Mohegan Gaming’s dexterity with hosting events, was tied to the hospitality culture of the Native American tribe behind the enterprise.

He told GGRAsia: “From the Mohegan tribe’s standpoint, they’ve practised the spirit of ‘Aquai’ for centuries and have a strong cultural heritage identity. The Mohegan tribe wants to share their culture with the world, and Inspire Korea is a big step towards making Aquai known.”

According to the parent group’s website, ‘Aquai’ is the Mohegan word for ‘greeting’. The “Spirit of Aquai” is said to express the Mohegan tribe’s guiding philosophy and is comprised of four key principles: welcoming, mutual respect, cooperation, and building relationships.

As of Tuesday, Inspire had 1,113 employees. “We will ramp up to 3,000 team members when we are fully open,” stated Mr Si.

Many will be “new hospitality graduates” from within the country. “Our promise to [South] Korea is to provide chances and development,” added the property president.

In promoting its initial concerts, Inspire also expects to create a cluster effect with its neighbouring casino resort Paradise City, at Yeongjong island, Incheon.

“Paradise [City] will have customers coming to our Melon Music Awards 2023 this weekend,” said Mr Si.

“We understand the value of a clustering effect, and Paradise City understand that as well. So, we will continue to explore other ways we can work together to create that, and really raise Incheon’s profile as a gaming destination.”

Paradise City is a joint venture operation between Paradise Co Ltd, an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, and Japanese group Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

Mr Si noted: “Paradise [City] doesn’t possess an arena,” but does have “quality art collections: therefore, there’s definitely an opportunity to collaborate [on] destination experience, and the event this weekend will be a good starter”.

Incheon market MOU, Inspire MICE

Mr Si confirmed Inspire had on November 13 been a party to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for “Revitalisation of Incheon International Hub-Linked Tourism”.

The other signatories were: Paradise City; KAL Hotel Network; Incheon Metropolitan City Government; Incheon International Airport Corp; Incheon Port Authority; Incheon Tourism Organization; and the Korea Tourism Organization.

Mr Si told GGRAsia that Inspire’s proximity to the airport was a commercial advantage for attracting customers from the wider region.

Inspire will also host, from early 2024, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) events. The resort’s promoter says it has the largest ballroom among all the hotels in the vicinity of Incheon’s airport. It covers 2,777 square metres (29,891 sq. feet) and can accommodate 3,000 people, according to the resort’s website.

Inspire anticipates hosting “regional business meetings, incentive visits for global firms, and trade exhibits, which would generate significant revenue,” said Mr Si.

For Inspire’s hotel facilities, online bookings for the 1,275 rooms are now open. GGRAsia’s review of the online booking engine early on Wednesday indicated the lower price range for a room-only on Thursday night – the soft launch – as KRW328,182, or about US$254.

The soft opening features three hotel towers, each with a distinct concept: Forest Tower, Sun Tower, and Ocean Tower.

The hotel facilities also offer five units of “villa” accommodation, with independent balcony, swimming pool and spa, according to the promoter.

Other resort attractions include Aurora, described as a 150-metre “digital entertainment street” featuring giant 42K LED screens. Aurora connects directly to what is termed Inspire Arena’s “gateway” – known as the Rotunda – utilising the design concept “New York Broadway”.

Splash Bay is a glass-domed indoor water park with two water slide lanes, scheduled to operate from the second quarter of 2024. Its swimming pool will be available to hotel guests at the opening of the hotel on Thursday. There is also an outdoor attraction called “Discovery Park”. A food court with an international range of cuisine will start running in the second quarter of 2024.

The completion of Splash Bay and Discovery Park in the second quarter next year, will mark the conclusion of Phase 1a.

A total of 11 Inspire-owned restaurants will launch initially. A ‘Michael Jordan’s Steak House’ is scheduled to open before year-end.

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