Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd says it is currently offering a “hybrid MICE broadcasting” facility in London to allow meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) events to be held simultaneously online in person.

The company said in a press release on Friday that providing hybrid facilities to event organizers “expect a healthy tourist arrival and the return of both local and international MICE events.”

Londoner Macao’s “Smart Stage” is said to offer the latter, “Professional Broadcast Quality Live Streaming and Hologram Features,” to show images of off-site participants.

The facility is described by Sands China as providing an “extended reality,” also called “XR.” The release states, “Unlike traditional ‘green screen’ environments, XR allows presenters to interact with real-time visual markers to provide a more authentic experience.” 파친코

The facility was created by the same in-house entertainment production team that oversaw the production of headline musicals appearing at Sands China venues, including the Rolling Stones, Alicia Keys and Bruno Mars, the company said.

“Lunder Macau’s smart stage beautifully complements existing MICE and entertainment products, especially as we finish the new state-of-the-art 6,000-seat multi-purpose London Arena on our London Macau property,” Kris Kaminsky, senior vice president of hotel operations at Sands China, said in a statement.

London’s Macau stadium is set to open this year, said Robert Goldstein, chairman and chief executive officer of property promoter Sands China. His remarks were included in the company’s 2021 annual provisional results submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday.

It and other fresh facilities in London’s Macau are expected to “open in 2022.”

Goldstein, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the parent company of U.S.-based Sands China, acknowledged at an investor event earlier this month that “there has been 24 months of confusion and frustration” regarding the timing of measures to further ease tourist inflows to Macau as the market is expected to recover from the impact of COVID-19. He said, “The ‘switch’ will continue. We are unpredictable.”

A spokesman for the MICE Trade Association in Macau told local media this week that mainland authorities are facilitating business visas for mainland residents who want to attend future exhibitions in the city as delegates.

In August 2020, Marina Bay Sands, a Singapore casino resort in Las Vegas Sands Group, announced the launch of a direct and online MICE event studio as a market response to restrictions on tourism and face-to-face events that existed in the city state at the time.