Incheon Airport and Inspire Integrated Resort sign land agreement

The consortium led by U.S. casino operator Mohegan Sun on Monday signed a land lease agreement with Incheon International Airport Corporation to build an integrated resort.

South Korea.- Inspire Integrated Resort, the consortium by Mohegan Sun and South Korean chemical maker KCC Group, signed a land lease agreement with Incheon International Airport Corporation to build an integrated resort on Yeongjong Island, which is expected to be completed by 2020.

As per the agreement, Inspire Integrated Resort will use land spanning 2.67 square metres on the gateway island west of Seoul. The agreement is the result of Inspire winning a bid to build an integrated resort with a 5.6 trillion won (€4.5 billion) proposal back in February. The consortium will build the nation’s largest foreigner-only casino, a hotel, a convention center and a theme park as well as a wellness center and other amenities by 2020.

There are currently 17 casinos in Korea with one open to locals. With the new license, the number of casinos in the country will increase to 20 by 2020. On its part, Incheon airport handles more than 45 million visitors annually and is currently building an additional terminal to increase capacity to about 62 million passengers by 2017.

Bobby Soper, the president of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, explained that the new project will help Incheon Airport’s “airport city concept” by drawing tourists from around the world with the world-class resort.

“With the agreement, we have acquired the space to build the integrated resort,” said Kang Yeon-sop, the chief of Inspire Integrated Resort. “We aim to present Northeast Asia’s largest resort, expecting about 10 million tourists annually.”