The Cotai Strip is a man-made strip of land near Macau, China between the islands of Taipa and Coloane. The third island in this chain is Macau proper. The entire area is referred to as “Macau”, and the gambling-specific area currently under development is “The Cotai Strip”.
The Cotai Strip is the name of the casino and tourism district of Cotai, Macau. The development of this area was inspired by the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Las Vegas Sands currently has a trademark application pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the name “Cotai Strip”. However, the name Cotai Strip is used generically by the press, as well as other Cotai Strip casino companies, such as Melco-PBL and Galaxy Entertainment, in their financial filings and websites.
Although Galaxy Entertainment’s Grand Waldo Hotel commenced operations in 2006 and was the first casino to open on the Cotai Strip, the first big milestone for the Cotai Strip was the opening of Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian Macao on August 28, 2007.
Planned expansion by Las Vegas Sands on the Cotai strip as of March 2008:
* 7 resort hotels
* 20,000 hotel rooms
* Over 1.5 mm sq ft of casino space
* Over 3.0 mm sq ft of MICE space
* 25,000 seats for live entertainment
* 3.0 mm sq ft of retail space
* Over 4.0 mm sq ft of vacation suites
* Site 1 = The Venetian Macao
* Site 2 = Four Seasons Hotel Macau
* Site 3 = Far East Consortium
* Site 4 = City of Dreams (see Melco-PBL below)[4]
* Site 5 = Shangri-La and Traders
* Site 6 = Sheraton and St. Regis
* Site 7 = Hilton and Conrad
* Site 8 = Fairmont and Raffles