Last June, Resorts World Manila suffered a nightmarish attack by a gunman who set fire to the second floor casino area, leaving 36 dead and more than 50 injured before killing himself. The Philippines and its first integrated resort each faced a major reckoning and each took decisive steps to spur recovery. A year on, tourist arrivals and casino revenue have continued to grow, but that doesn’t mean the challenges are over.

The attack highlighted longstanding security concerns for Philippine visitors. In its wake, Travellers International Hotel Group, the joint venture between Lim Kok Thay’s Genting Group’s Hong Kong arm and local billionaire Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group that owns Resorts World Manila, reached out for help. “We engaged one of the top private security consultants in the world to undertake a full review of our safety and security protocols,” Travellers Chief Operating Officer Stephen Reilly says. “We took their recommendations and put them in place immediately.”

Regulator Pagcor closed RWM for four weeks as security upgrades went ahead and heightened vigilance market wide. “Pagcor further took precautionary steps by inspecting all its licensed casinos not only in Metro Manila but also those in Clark, Poro Point and Binangonan,” the government owned corporation writes in response to questions. “Pagcor took immediate action to avoid occurrence of similar attacks in any casino property, unlike in other jurisdictions where neither gaming nor resort operations were sanctioned after such unfortunate events.”

Regulators can help restore confidence in a destination through what they say as well as what they do. At the recent International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) Summit in Macau, former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman AG Burnett recalled that in the immediate aftermath of last October’s mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, he announced that the Control Board had armed personnel in every casino there. It was in fact standard procedure for Control Board enforcement division officers to be on patrol, but Burnett understood that highlighting their presence would give casino customers and employees a sense of security in the uncertain hours after the attack, when worries about accomplices and copycats abounded.

Despite the RWM attack, Philippine visitor arrivals and gross gaming revenue each set records last year. “I believe the public understands that attacks similar to the one at RWM are nearly impossible to prevent 100% of the time,” Strategic Market Advisors Managing Director Matthew Landry says. He expects tourism and gaming to continue their long term upward trends as the Philippine economy heads toward a seventh consecutive year growing 6% or better, and tourist arrivals from China soar, aided by warming bilateral relations and eased visa rules.

RWM still faces challenges, not only because of the attack, but because of Entertainment City, a Pagcor initiated cluster of integrated resorts on Manila Bay, about six kilometers away. Entertainment City kicked off with Solaire, headed by Philippine billionaire Enrique Razon, in 2013, and RWM’s gaming revenue has declined in each subsequent year. Lawrence Ho-led Melco Entertainment opened City of Dreams Manila in December 2014 in partnership with Belle Corp, controlled by Henry Sy, the Philippines’ richest man. In December 2016, Japan’s Universal Entertainment opened Okada Manila and an expressway connected Entertainment City with Manila’s gateway airport in RWM’s backyard. On my most recent visit, I was in my Entertainment City room less than hour after stepping off the plane.

Travellers has already broken ground on the fourth (of four) Entertainment City IR, Westside City Resorts World, though many wonder why it would want two IRs in Manila. The attack could have been a cue to put RWM on the back burner and shift focus to the new property in what’s now indisputable Manila’s casino hub. Instead, Travellers has doubled down on RWM, accelerating its Phase 3 expansion that will add 949 guest rooms under the Sheraton, Hilton and Okura brands, plus the Philippines’ first Ritz-Carlton, bringing RWM’s key total to 2400, plus additional retail and gaming space that began opening in May.

Reilly contends that RWM still has a location edge with a walkway connecting to the airport and a more central location within the Metro Manila road system and psyche. Meanwhile, it’s moving ahead with the Entertainment City project that Reilly calls “integral for us.” Having two properties will enable “a more strategic approach to catering to different market segments,” he says.

After the tragedy, Reilly’s team reached out to customers to assure them “things would not only be back to normal, but be better eventually.” Over the past year, Travellers and the Philippines have worked to make good on that pledge.