Canadian global entertainment brand Cirque du Soleil plans to use its current ZAIA showcase in Macau as a “springboard” to further its Asian ambitions, President and CEO Daniel Lamarre told Reuters in an exclusive interview in Hong Kong recently…
“Macau now the way it’s developing is attracting a lot of clientele not only (from) mainland China but now we’re seeing more and more people coming from India and other countries and I think it will help establish our brand not only in this neighbourhood but across all of Asia and that’s the plan, that’s the strategy,” Lamarre said.
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He said gambling probably accounts for 90 percent of Macau’s activities right now, but expects it to follow the Vegas model where he says gambling has lost its dominance of the city’s attractions and entertainment is huge.
“So that’s why we’re here, to help develop the entertainment business not only in Macau but in all of China,” he said.
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Cirque du Soleil’s immediate goal is to maintain ZAIA as a flagship showcase in Macau, and will have the potential to grow into multiple shows per day. Vegas now features seven shows per day – excluding Cirque du Soleil’s upcoming Michael Jackson show in October.
“We hope to have three permanent shows in Macau one day and I see a day where we can have a permanent show in big Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing and who knows,” Lamarre said.
But first Lamarre said the Cirque plans to begin regularly touring key cities in China in the next 18 months with a view to establishing permanent shows within four years and spreading out across Asia.
“We’ve been to Shanghai once, we’ve never been to Beijing.”
He intends to follow a similar strategy in India and elsewhere in Asia.
Read the original article here.
Watch a video of the interview here.
{ SOURCE: Reuters, Washington Post }
