By JONATHAN CHENG
HONG KONG—Las Vegas Sands Corp. said it hopes to generate 30% of its Macau revenues from non-Chinese customers after 2011, when it opens a new casino-and-resort complex in Macau’s Cotai area.

Currently, revenue from non-China visitors makes up about 8% of Las Vegas Sands’ business in Macau, according to the company’s Macau president, Steve Jacobs.

While visitors from neighboring Hong Kong and mainland China make up the bulk of visitors and revenue in Macau and at Las Vegas Sands’ properties there, Chairman Sheldon Adelson said Sunday that those visitors tend to be day-trippers focused on gambling.

“When people fly in, they bring a much bigger budget than does a day-tripper,” Mr. Adelson said, highlighting efforts to drive business from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

He said business from day-trippers, many of whom cross the border to Macau from Hong Kong or the neighboring southern Chinese province of Guangdong for gambling runs, “can be taken care of by the casino-only guys,” most of whom are clustered in Macau’s traditional downtown peninsula.

In Cotai, where Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian Macao and its new megaproject are located, Mr. Adelson said he hopes a variety of entertainment and shopping options will attract longer stays.

Work on that project is scheduled to resume in January after a year-long hiatus, with a mid-2011 launch date for the project, which sits adjacent to the Venetian Macao and includes Shangri-La, Traders and Sheraton hotels.

Mr. Adelson’s plan is to “recreate a portion of the famous Las Vegas Strip,” eventually opening 14 hotels with more than 20,000 rooms. “That’s critical mass,” he said.

The company hopes to capture a greater share of regional business, in part by introducing more services and amenities aimed directly at Japanese and Indian clients, some of which will be rolled out as early as next month, the company said.

The Japanese-themed sections will be staffed by hosts brought in from Japan.

At the same time, Mr. Adelson said there was plenty of growth still left in mainland China, where only a small fraction of the population has been tapped so far.

Las Vegas Sands aims to raise as much as US$3.83 billion in a Hong Kong listing of its Macau assets. The listing will be open to retail subscribers Monday, with trading set to begin on Nov. 30.

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