macao

Macao's Flashy Ferries

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

This vividly colored catamaran is the first of ten 47.5 meter passenger catamarans that will operate as high speed ferries taking pleasure-seeking passengers from Hong Kong to the luxury gaming area of Macao. The catamarans have a speed of 42 knots and can carry more than 400 passengers. They are going to be busy. The popularity of the island Las Vegas is growing rapidly, the Hong Kong to Macao trek is currently the world's largest route in terms of passenger numbers and will only go up as more and more lavish hotels are opened in the area. Last year, the Hong Kong to Macao route saw 14.3 million passengers.

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Tags: catamaran, china, cotai strip, CotaiStrip, ferries, macao, macau

Macao Will Get A Playboy Mansion

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

China's Las Vegas, Macao has taken another step toward luring tourists to the playtime destination. The Playboy Mansion Macao will be a 40,000 square-foot entertainment destination that will include a Hugh M. Hefner Villa for overnight stays. The Macao Mansion will be a part of the Macao Studio City complex and will pay homage to Hef's legendary Holmby Hills home. There is even a contemporary interpretation of the Playboy pool and the infamous grotto. And yes, there will be bunnies. It seems that the Playboy clubs, which were phased out back in the early 1990s are back in a new form with both this location and the Playboy Club at the Palms. The Mansion should open in late 2009. As, the Guardian notes, Playboy magazine itself is banned in China so this might be more of a draw for the international crowd.

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Tags: china, expire-images:2008-6-27, macao, mansion, playboy

Will Kazakhstan Be The New Vegas?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

It seems almost like a late April's Fool's Day joke but it's true, Kazak authorities are pondering a gambling and entertainment complex near the city of Almaty. The BBC reports that President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that he had long thought of building a version of Las Vegas on a steppe outside the city. A desert gambling oasis may help control gambling inside the major cities. Almaty alone has nearly 40 casinos. Nazarbayev wants to shift that action to the shores of Lake Kapchegai around 50 miles away (Vegas with a beach). While the article references the rise of gambling in Asian countries it doesn't mention that another aspirant to the Vegas throne, the Cotai Strip in Macau which already has attracted major hotel and retail interest and has massive Vegas-style hotels under construction. Now if Steve Wynn shows up in Kazakhstan then we'll know it's really going somewhere.

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Tags: asia, central asia, gambling, kazakhstan, las vegas, macao, macau