In the Philippines and a senior executive with the company behind the under-construction Emerald Bay Resort and Casino has announced that the facility’s planned premiere has been further delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report from GGRAsia, Jose Angel Sueiro serves as the Chief Operating Officer for PH Resorts Group Holdings Incorporated and he declared that the $600 million facility is now not expected to open until the third quarter of 2022. The source detailed that the Paul Steelman-designed Emerald Bay Resort and Casino had initially been scheduled to debut by the conclusion of this year but later had this target scuppered by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Imposing project:

The 270-room Emerald Bay Resort and Casino is reportedly taking shape on a 13.5-acre plot of beachfront land on the central Philippines island of Mactan and is set to feature a casino offering a selection of 600 slots and 122 gaming tables authorized under a seven-year exclusivity deal. The coming development situated some 3.7 miles from Mactan-Cebu International Airport is furthermore purportedly eventually due to offer as many as 18 restaurants as well as a convention center and 86,111 sq ft of retail space.

Coronavirus consequences:

However, Sueiro reportedly declared that progress on constructing his firm’s two-tower Emerald Bay Resort and Casino has now been significantly delayed owing to ‘the reimposition of stricter quarantine measures in March’ and the resultant difficulties associated with ‘labor mobilization and materials delivery.’ The executive also proclaimed that this slow-down arose some three months after his firm held a momentous ‘topping off’ ceremony for the coming property and ‘just as we were generating momentum’.

Model deadline:

PH Resorts Group Holdings reportedly revealed in September that it had put back the planned opening date for its Emerald Bay Resort and Casino to sometime during the second quarter of next year. However, Sueiro has now purportedly pronounced that the recent delays have knocked this target further back to ‘the third quarter of 2022.’ He purportedly moreover went on to describe this revised goal as ‘ideal’ before divulging that construction on the development’s second stage is expected to be ‘well underway by that time’.

Foreign hope:

In its report on the matter and Inside Asian Gaming disclosed that work on building the impressive Emerald Bay Resort and Casino has been continuing throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the Asian nation’s many associated lockdowns and quarantines. It went on to cite Sueiro as stating that increased international travel thanks to rising vaccination rates is now expected to spur ‘a recovery in tourism in the Philippines and in the region.’