Exclusive | How Galaxy’s new hands-on boss is building Macau’s ‘holistic’ next phase

Francis Lui adds the opulent Capella hotel to the second-largest casino and resort operator’s growing universe of lodgings and attractions

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Francis Lui, chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group. Illustration: Henry Wong

Published: 10:00am, 15 Feb 2025Updated: 10:34pm, 15 Feb 2025

In the third part of our series on Macau’s integrated resort operators, Peggy Sito looks at how Galaxy Entertainment Group’s new chairman Francis Lui is forging partnerships with global hotel chains and building non-gaming facilities to help lead Macau towards economic diversification. Read the previous instalments on Wynn and Sands China.

The late afternoon sun had sunk into early twilight before Francis Lui Yiu-tung could extract himself from several back-to-back planning meetings to conduct his first media interview as chairman of one of Macau’s largest integrated resort operators.

Sitting poolside at the Raffles at Galaxy Macau last month, Lui spelled out his vision: Galaxy Entertainment Group, established 20 years earlier by his late father Lui Che-woo as one of Macau’s six casino operators, would shift its focus from gambling to what he calls a “holistic luxury experience” while establishing itself as a leader in Macau’s drive to diversify its tourism offerings.

The Raffles, which opened in August 2023 with 450 rooms, is the latest addition to the group’s portfolio of 5,000 rooms and eight global hotel brands, which includes Galaxy Hotel, Ritz-Carlton, Banyan Tree, JW Marriott, Okura, Andaz and Broadway.

Galaxy Entertainment Group chairman Francis Lui Yiu-tung, pictured at Galaxy Macau on January 8, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Wong

That is the largest number of five-star hotels under one umbrella, according to the Forbes Travel Guide, which is a matter of immense pride for Lui, who trained as a civil and structural engineer at the University of California, Berkeley.

“We want to have the best assets, the biggest integrated resort in town, offer the finest hotel rooms,” Lui said. “At the same time, we hope to maintain an Asian mindset of pleasing customers and providing the best service. Our motto has always been ‘World class, Asian heart’. [This] will entice customers to come back to Galaxy again and again.”