Inspire Resort a major contributor to S.Korea tourism: Steve Wolstenholme

Steve Wolstenholme (pictured) is chief casino officer of South Korea’s Inspire Entertainment Resort, which offers foreigner-only gaming at the Incheon property. With more than 30 years in integrated resort management, his operating experience spans Hoiana Resort & Golf in Vietnam, Okada Manila in the Philippines, and Galaxy Macau in the Chinese gambling hub. At Inspire, he oversees casino strategy, operations, and long-term business growth. In this first portion of an interview with GGRAsia, Mr Wolstenholme discusses how Inspire is contributing to bringing tourists and distinctive entertainment to the South Korea market. What are some standout features of South Korea as a casino market? The infrastructure is extremely good. South Korea is a very developed market, and I spent quite a bit of time in far less developed jurisdictions. So, this was particularly interesting for me, and from a personal standpoint [a] challenge. Working in a jurisdiction where the casino offer is [mostly] foreigner-only, provides a unique set of challenges, but I like challenges, so that was probably a main attractor for me. How are you putting the ‘entertainment’ into Inspire Entertainment Resort? Casinos alone are not going to be an attractor. If you’re playing baccarat, closest to nine wins, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. So, it’s everything else that’s all about entertainment and fun. With a resort like this, it is about creating a fun destination and leveraging everything that the resort has, and what the area has. Inspire is an integrated resort near the major global city of Seoul, just over an hour away, and it has a lot to offer, particularly with K-culture. How has Inspire contributed to South Korea’s tourism and employment? There’s been a great influx of foreign visitors since we’ve opened [in November 2023]. I think we’ve contributed about 13 million incremental visitors, including both domestic [non-gaming] and international visitors, since our opening. We currently hire directly over 2,000 employees, and indirectly an equal number, and probably more. It’s good employment that has a great trajectory, because people starting in this industry don’t necessarily have to start in one area or one department and stay there. So, there’s a lot of growth opportunities, and Inspire does not have a glass ceiling. You can come here in a very entry-level position and aspire to be wherever you want to be, whether it be a different department, an executive position or a managing position. There is a path to get there, and that’s extremely important, particularly looking at this industry and where this industry is going in general, and particularly here in South Korea. Which overseas markets are most important to Inspire, and where do you see growth potential? Much of our visitation comes from China and Japan, but it’s not exclusively from them. We’re 10 to 15 minutes away from Incheon International Airport, and direct flights give us access to more than just [South Korea’s] traditional [tourism] markets. We also look at places like India as an opportunity; Indonesia is a big opportunity for us. Ten years ago, you wouldn’t necessarily find Korean food globally. Now… experiencing really good Korean food is a very compelling reason why people come here, and not just from China or Japan. How can Inspire attract Incheon International Airport’s transit passengers? We have a layover programme. I see that as an enormous opportunity. People with a layover at Incheon may stay here for a few hours, come into Inspire to be entertained, to eat, and potentially even to stay overnight. We’re looking at opportunities where people can rent a room for a limited amount of time. Our location is significant to us, and we can leverage that [even] more than we’re doing thus far. What else are you working on bring extra international visitors to Inspire? We have 1,200 rooms, and there are times when we have capacity issues, Additional hotel and supporting facilities are something we’re looking at to satisfy increased demand at different price points. We want luxury, but we also want to accommodate a range of price points. Some of the largest companies in the world are South Korean, so we want to ensure that entertainment isn’t just in the form of our arena, which is a major asset, but also around other things that South Korea has to offer. We see a lot of opportunity in our MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] business. Being so close to the airport, I think, is a major attractor for a lot of companies [planning meetings].