Cotai is a 5.2 km2 piece of reclaimed land on the top of the Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau that has connected two independent islands since 2005. The name, which is a portmanteau of Coloane and Taipa, can also refer to the island formed by the reclamation. In the second sense, the Special Administrative Region of Macau now consists of the Macau Peninsula, plus Cotai Island, about a mile to the south. Cotai was created to provide Macau with a new gambling and tourism area, since Macau is so densely populated and land is scarce. Many hotels and casinos can now be found on the island. In 2006, a new hospital was founded in the Cotai area, the MUST Hospital, which is associated with the Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation.

History

In 1968, a causeway (Estrada do Istmo) connecting Taipa and Coloane was inaugurated. Throughout the 1990s, a series of landfill works expanded this isthmus, and after the 1999 transfer of sovereignty over Macau from Portugal to China, further landfills began to expand this small isthmus further.

Hotels and casinos

The "Cotai Strip" is a name designating the entire hotel-casino area, where the term "Cotai Strip" has been trademarked by Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which coined the phrase (USPTO Registration Nos. 4396486 and 4396486 for gambling and hotel services), and only applies to its properties. Galaxy Entertainment Group's Grand Waldo Hotel was the first casino to commence operations in Cotai, opening its doors in May 2006. The largest property on Cotai so far is Las Vegas Sands' The Venetian Macao, which opened its doors on August 28, 2007. Melco PBL Holdings opened the City of Dreams directly across the street from the Venetian on June 1, 2009. The construction of additional casinos and hotel projects is currently underway.

List of hotels and casinos

Tourist attractions

Transportation

Gallery

Footnotes