TOURISM players say the signs that there would be a delay in the opening of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort (IR) were visible: Construction at the site was proceeding slower than it should have been.

They said the fact that work had not started on its 1.2ha rooftop garden - which has to be lifted 200m into place - with less than half a year left to the opening was a massive hurdle to overcome.

Said CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun: 'Anyone who has driven by could have seen it's impossible.' Mr Song and others, however, said the delayed opening would not have much of an impact, given the sorry state of the industry right now.

This year has been a write-off as far as tourism arrivals are concerned, they said, and whatever boost a year-end opening of the IR would have given would have been minimal.

Las Vegas Sands' chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson said on Wednesday that the IR's opening would be pushed back to January or February.

The admission came after months of assurances by Marina Bay Sands' other executives that the 2,600-room casino-resort would open by the year end, as scheduled.

But while industry observers and agents contacted by The Straits Times say they saw a delay coming, they said the explanation given for it - that there was a shortage of materials and labour - was puzzling.

The Building and Construction Authority, for example, said it had not received any feedback from the industry about a shortage of raw materials.

Asked about the impact of the delay yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S.Iswaran would only say that tourism has been hit by the slump like other industries, and that the spread of H1N1 flu 'sort of exacerbated that some'.

He added that the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and other government agencies were in talks with the IR over the matter and 'we expect to have a good outcome'.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.