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SINGAPORE : Little more than a year after making its Asian debut in Singapore, the famous Crazy Horse Paris cabaret will close its doors this month because of poor audience turnout.
"This is a business decision. The attendance is lower than expected, that's why we have decided to close it," Goh Min Yen of entertainment firm Eng Wah Organisation, which brought the show here, said Thursday.
Goh said the decision was made after months of consultations with Crazy Horse Paris when the Singapore show failed to achieve its target of filling 65 percent of the 400-seat theatre.
She declined to give specific figures but said the theatre was less than half filled on most nights.
The Singapore show, like the original in Paris, features a scantily-clad, all-female troupe.
The poor turnout was partially due to Singapore's tight guidelines on where the show could be advertised, said Goh.
She added the show may have succeeded had it been introduced to Singapore later, since the city-state's two integrated resorts (IRs), which will include casinos, are expected to be fully operational by 2010.
"I guess we need a bit more like the new developments like the IRs," said Goh. "On hindsight, maybe I think that would be a better time to bring in Crazy Horse."
The company invested S$7m (US$4.57m) to bring the show here and has lost $3.8m, she said. Crazy Horse Paris opened in the city-state in December 2005.
Singapore, a tiny island nation lacking natural wonders, is striving to boost its appeal to tourists by building man-made attractions to augment its reputation for efficiency, cleanliness and safety.
The city-state lifted a 40-year ban on casinos in 2005 and issued gaming licences last year to two foreign companies, Las Vegas Sands and Malaysia's Genting International.
The two firms have promised to invest a total of over 10 billion dollars to build the integrated resorts, which will also include entertainment and convention facilities.
Singapore's long-term target is to attract 17 million visitors generating, who could generate $30b in revenues by 2015. - AFP /dt
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