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NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com MasterCard enters Myanmar SINGAPORE – With Myanmar opening up, appropriate payments mechanisms are entering the market to manage the demands of growth that the country is expected to see this year. Visitors to Myanmar can now use MasterCard as the mode of payment for their shopping and hotel stay. By the end of 2013, more than 500 restaurants, hotels and retail outlets will be able to accept card payments as MasterCard rolls out its point-of-sale (POS) terminals. Co-operative Bank Ltd (CB Bank) and MasterCard Worldwide have placed its first POS transaction at Golden Myanmar Airlines, Myanmar's first public budget airline. The nationwide rollout will also see POS credit card acceptance in Yangon, followed by the cities of Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay and Bagan, towards the second quarter of the year. According to the Myanmar's Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, visitors to Myanmar boomed in 2012, with more than a million travellers entering the country, as compared to 816,000 in 2011. "International visitors and businesses are looking for easy payment channels when they arrive in Myanmar. This rollout of POS acceptance for all MasterCard cards will help manage the huge demand that new visitors and new businesses are placing on the country right now, and is especially timely given the influx of foreign visitors expected during the upcoming South East Asia Games (SEA Games) in December, 2013," said Antonio Corro, country manager and chief representative, Indochina, MasterCard Worldwide. MasterCard has also announced its two new bank license agreements with Kanbawza Bank Ltd and United Amara Bank Ltd for issuance and acceptance of MasterCard cards in Myanmar. Officially, international payments have only been accepted via ATMs in Myanmar since November last year, when MasterCard partnered with CB Bank to launch the very first transaction at one of the bank's ATMS in Yangon. CB Bank and MasterCard Worldwide place its first POS transaction at Golden Myanmar Airlines LAS VEGAS – Genting Group Chairman KT Lim has announced plans for a new development project aat the Echelon site, along the Las Vegas Strip, following its acquisition of an 87-acre parcel from Boyd Gaming Corporation. The land will be used to create the Resorts World Las Vegas, Genting's first destination resort in Las Vegas. Also present during the announcement were leading Nevada elected officials include Governor Brian Sandoval and US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "We are incredibly grateful to the leaders of the State of Nevada, Clark County and the City of Las Vegas for joining us in announcing what will be a fantastic addition to the top resort destination in the United States," said KT Lim, Chairman and Chief Executive of www.travelweeklyweb.com the Genting Group. "This is a great day for Genting, Las Vegas, and the State of Nevada, and we look forward to taking full advantage of this exciting new opportunity." Resorts World Las Vegas will be a worldclass destination resort with 3,500 rooms in the first phase, as well as 175,000 square feet of total gaming space across several gaming floors, and several luxury dining and retail amenities. The resort will also include additional convention space for Las Vegas trade shows, helping the city attract international business travelers with a distinct focus on business-to-business events and conferences. Over the course of the construction and operation process, Resorts World Las Vegas will bring tens of thousands of jobs to Southern Nevada for many years to come. Photo: PRNewsFoto/Genting Group Genting Group announces plans for new development in Vegas Genting Group Introduces Resorts World Las Vegas The Genting Group currently has gaming facilities and is licensed in the jurisdictions of Malaysia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Bahamas and the State of New York. MARCH 2013 | TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA ■ | 3

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