
The gambling tourism market is a tough one. There isnt just a lot of competition especially in the Asia Pacific region but the high-rollers are notoriously difficult to lure in, and your typical casino resort customer expects a high level of service.
But its a massive market, too, accounting for billions of dollars in revenue every year, and bringing that big business into the heart of Australian cities. There are casino success stories all around the Pacific Rim: Singapores two carefully regulated casinos have been a roaring success, even in a world-wide downturn, and the Macau casino games hub has eclipsed even the Vegas Strip in raw cash-generating power.
And then theres Australia: arguably punching above its weight, but theres no disputing the fact that there are some first-rate casino resorts here, and that tourists are flocking to them in ever-greater numbers.
And it isnt just the obvious allure of Australias cities (and the outback, and the coast...) that brings the tourists in. Australian casino resorts are rightly considered to be some of the best in the world. Two in particular stand out, but theyre the brightest stars in our casino constellation, and not the only choices on offer by any means.
The first is Crown Melbourne, the flagship of James Packers casino empire (which hes always looking to expand more on that here). Whole city blocks of downtown Melbourne have been given over to the Crown resort, and whilst it had plenty of opponents when the current site first opened in 1997 (and continues to have a good number of detractors), its very much a fixture of the city centre these days, with restaurants, bars, entertainment and nightlife all on offer.
Crown brings big events to Melbourne, too, with movie stars treading the red carpet outside pretty regularly, and the Aussie Millions moving in every year.
Sometimes in the shadow of Crown Melbourne, but just as often underrated, is Sydneys The Star Casino. We reckon its every bit as good as Crown Melbourne, and just by being in what many would call Australias first city gives The Star an edge. Were really interested to see how things work out when a little bit more competition comes to town, but as things stand, The Star is well worth a weekend away, whether youre coming from overseas or from around Australia.
So Australia boasts a couple of genuinely world-class luxury casino resorts, and many others besides, and whilst you might (rightly) suspect us of a little bias, the numbers dont lie they come in their hundreds of thousands to enjoy Australias casino resorts, both international travellers and domestic.
And the news were hearing about casino developments and plans in the pipeline make us think things are only going in a positive direction. Australias casinos have a claim to be the best in the world at the moment, and theyre just getting better!
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