Cotai ( zh, t=路氹城, cy=Louhtáhm Sìhng; ) is a piece of

reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

on the top of the Seac Pai Bay between

Taipa Taipa ( zh, t=氹仔, ; , ) is an area in Macau, connected to Coloane through the area known as Cotai, which is largely built from reclaimed land. Located on the northern half of the island, Taipa's population is mostly suburban. Administrativ ...

and Coloane islands in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

that has connected two independent islands since 2005. The name, which is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

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 Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

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 Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital (MUST Hospital; , Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Hospital Universitário da Universidade de Ciência e Tecnologia de Macau'') is a teaching hospital and one of three hospitals in Macau. The ...

, which is associated with the Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation.

History

In 1968, a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

() connecting

and Coloane was inaugurated. Throughout the 1990s, a series of landfill works expanded this isthmus, and after the 1999

transfer of sovereignty over Macau The handover of Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 20 December 1999. This event ended 442 years of Portuguese rule in the former settlement, which began in 1557. Macau was settled by Por ...

from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, 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 Las Vegas Sands Corp. is an American casino and resort company with corporate headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It was founded by Sheldon Adelson, Sheldon G. Adelson and his partners out of the Sands Hotel and Casino on the Las ...

' The Venetian Macao, which opened its doors on August 28, 2007.Venetian Macao press release, 28 August 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

* Four Seasons Hotel Macao * Broadway Macau * City of Dreams * Galaxy Macau * Grand Lisboa Palace * Lisboeta Macau * MGM Cotai * Pousada Marina Infante * Studio City Macau * The Londoner Macao * The Parisian Macao * The Plaza Macao * The Venetian Macao * Wynn Palace

Tourist attractions

* Macau East Asian Games Dome

East Landfill Zone

East of the Avenida do Aeroporto is a trapezoidal section of reclaimed land that is home to the city's only construction waste landfill, in use since 2006. In 2011,

AECOM AECOM (, ; formerly AECOM Technology Corporation; stylised A''Ξ''COM) is an American multinational infrastructure consulting firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company's official name from 1990–2015 was AECOM Technology Corporation, ...

and the Macau government built a seawall to stabilize the landfill and stop the mud around it from encroaching on the Macau International Airport's piles. The site is presently home to the transportation department's car inspection facility and driver's license exam center (opened in 2016) as well as the

Macau Light Rapid Transit The Macau Light Rapid Transit (MLRT, zh, 澳門輕軌系統; , MLM) is a mass transit system in Macau and the first railway system of the city. The first phase of the project's construction began in February 2012, and the first section of the Taip ...

depot (opened in 2019). In 2024, the government announced plans to build the city's first waste recycling center in the area, completing it by 2027.

Transportation

* Cotai Jet – high speed

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

owned by The Venetian Macao, operating ferry services between Taipa Ferry Terminal and Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

- a mass transit system in Macau that began partial operations in 2019. Planned expansions will serve the Macau Peninsula, Taipa and Cotai, serving major border checkpoints such as the Border Gate, the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal, the Lotus Bridge Border, and the Macau International Airport. The Ocean-to-Taipa-Ferry-Terminal line began operations in late 2019.

Gallery

File:Macau Taipa ferry piers Cotai Water Jet 金光飛航 night April 2016 DSC (1).JPG, Ferry piers in Cotai File:Cotai.JPG, Cotai Strip under construction in 2007 File:Cotai2007.JPG, Cotai in 2007 File:MUST Hospital 01.jpg,

Footnotes

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated coastal places in Macau Concelho das Ilhas