Smart Racing Park to boost Incheon visitation

Paradise SegaSammy’s Phase 2 development will include the development of a “Smart Racing Park,” with Incheon International Airport, which is expected to provide a significant boost to visitation of the zone.




The Smart Racing Park is a theme park that will use advanced technologies, like augmented reality, to deliver experiences such as gravity racing.




The park will cover an area of 73,600 square metres and will also involve an investment of $71 million from a company named Monolith Incheon Park. 




The Incheon International Airport Corporation said it expects the high-tech theme park to boost visitation by about one million annual arrivals a year once it’s fully operational in 2025.




“I expect the smart racing park will not only generate new air travel demand, necessary for overcoming the current crisis but also provide overseas and Korean tourists with the innovative entertainment only available at Incheon Airport,” Kim Kyung-Wook, President & CEO of Incheon International Airport Corporation was cited as saying in local media.




There was no information provided as to Paradise SegaSammy’s input. 




The Incheon area was envisaged as a leisure and entertainment hub, including multiple integrated resort projects. To date, only Paradise SegaSammy’s Paradise City is operational, with other plans stalled.




However, in late November, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment said it has put in place $1.55 billion in financing to enable it to move forward with its resort, which it now expects to open in 2023. 




The resort is known as Inspire Korea. The Phase 1 resort development includes three 5-star hotel towers, a 15,000-seat multifunctional professional performance arena, a foreigner-only casino, the largest convention facility in the Seoul metropolitan area, a world class retail offering, a year-round indoor water dome experience and a large outdoor thematic space, known as the “Family Park.”




Mohegan said it now has the financing to complete the project. It has contributed $300 million in equity, with a further $275 million in equity from private equity funds. There is also a project finance loan of about $890 million from a three-bank Korean consortium. 




Mohegan got permission to extend its construction deadline in April this year due to Covid delays, with the date for opening pushed out to the first half of 2023 from 2022. The company also tweaked its plans to include facilities such as an outdoor activity park. 




At present the resort is 12 percent completed. 




“We anticipate a significant rebound in the tourism and leisure industry following the pandemic, and we look forward to contributing to the Korean economy while at the same time opening and operating a successful, state-of-the-art resort. I’m thrilled to see our international vision for IR development reach this important milestone,” said Bobby Soper, International President for MGE.




Mohegan recently said it was pulling out of the bidding for a resort in Greece to focus its resources on South Korea. Its plans to compete for a license in Nagasaki Japan were thwarted when partner Oshidori Corp announced it was pulling out, claiming the bidding process was flawed.




Another project in the Incheon Zone may be stalled indefinitely, with Chinese property developer, R&F Properties, saying in July that there was no clear path forward to completion.




Its partner, Caesars Entertainment, pulled out earlier this year and told analysts on a call that it had sold its investment for the price of some “barbecued pork.” 




Industry analysts are downbeat on the prospects for South Korea’s foreigner-only casino market in the short term, due to the Covid crisis and doubts on whether Chinese tourists will return. 




Mohegan in the past has stressed that its project will have a large non-gaming offering to which it hopes to attract clients from the Seoul Metropolitan area. 

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