ByHEWEIinShanghai
[email protected]
T
heme parks are the next big
chapter inChina’s ongoing
consumption upgrade saga,
after the surge in outbound
tourism flights and a spike in cin-
ema screens, several research houses
have said.
TheThemedEntertainmentAsso-
ciation, a tourism and entertainment
trade group, projectsChina to be
home to the world’s largest theme
park facilities by 2 020.
Areport from WorldTravelMar-
ket last year estimated that theme
park-related retail sales will hit $
billion by 2 020 ,up36 7 percent com-
pared to 2 010.
That translates to 33 0 million peo-
ple visiting theme parks by 2 020 in
the world’s second-largest economy.
Consultancies attributed such
optimistic growth projections to an
expanding middle-income group
that has the capacity and willingness
for discretionary spending.People
want to pamper themselves through
a variety of entertainment, they said.
So, leisure attractions inChina are
becoming increasingly popular as
disposable incomes in the country
grow.ANZBank said thatChina’s
middle- and upper-middle-income
earners will take up half ofGDPcon-
sumption by 2 030 .Some 326 mil-
lion people are projected to join this
group in the next 15 years or so.
Theme park development in
China has seen three phases so far.
After the baby steps of the 1991-2 000
period,C hineseleisure companies
increased scale until 2 0 15.From
there, the industry marched into
what real estate consultancyColliers
calls the “third era” of mega projects,
international brands, intellectual
property orIPrights, andChinese
finance.
TheShanghaiDisneyResort,
which opened inJune 2 0 16, exem-
plifies the trend inChina.It offers
a suite of massive retail, hotels, and
a park complex.The park is backed
byUSentertainment giant Walt
Disney.And it managed to achieve
break-even in its very first year of
operations.
“This growth has followed the
increased popularity of Western
brands and culture inChina, as well
as a growing interest fromChinese
audiences in globally recognized
content,” saidHeJianmin, a profes-
sor of tourism management at the
ShanghaiUniversity ofFinance and
Economics.
The entertainment giant is tipped
to dominate the country’s $2 04
billion media and entertainment
industry, according to professional
services providerPwC.
The industry now boasts big
names includingDisney’s long-time
competitorChimelongOceanKing-
dom and new entrants likeShanghai
AndersenParadise.
TheTEAreport identified three
Chinese theme park operators:OCT
ParksChina,Fantawild andChime-
longGroup.They all made the top
10 list in terms of number of visitors
last year.
In2 020 ,Beijing is slated to open
the world’s largestUniversalStudios.
And by the end of this year,Hong
Kong-listedShimaoGroup has
promised to build eight outdoor and
water theme parks.
TheChongqingRiverside-Six
FlagsThemeTown, the first interna-
tional theme park owned byChinese,
is on course to debut inSouthwest
China.
En route to this current boom,
the industry saw minor setbacks.
For instance, inJuly 2 017 ,Chinese
developerDalian WandaGroup sold
a majority stake in 13 of its theme
parks to rival developerSunacChina.
Amongthe projects in that deal
wasNanchang WandaCity, whichthe company opened last year.
Before the deal, Wanda’s chairman
WangJianlin had talked it up as a
competitor toShanghaiDisneyland.
New and established existing play-
ers will still have plenty of new com-
petitors: some 59 theme parks are
currently in the pipeline inChina,
according to a report by consultancy
Euromonitor.
Industry players largely view such
competition as more of a blue sea.
Lionsgate, whose popular film
franchises includeHunger Games
andTwilight, will be brought to life
when the studio opens what it calls
the world’s first vertical theme park
inChina’s southern city of Zhuhai,Guangdong province, later this year.
The studio hopes to leverage Zhu-
hai’s emerging status as a tourist des-
tination and its proximity toMacao —
considered the “Las Vegas ofChina”.
According toJeneferBrown, the
company’s senior vice-president of
global live and location-based enter-
tainment divisions, theChimelong
OceanKingdom theme park in Zhu-
hai has already drawn tens of mil-
lions of people, and that could be a
plus forLionsgate.
WintastarShanghai, an indoor
skiing and entertainment facility in
the pipeline, also sees competition as
an invaluable asset to create industry
synergy.
The entertainment complex, joint-
ly developed byShanghaiLujiazui
GroupCoLtd,ShanghaiHarbourCity
Development (Group)CoLtd and
WintastarHoldings, a subsidiary of
Singapore-based property developer
KOP Ltd, is capitalizing on its prox-
imity toShanghai’sPudongInterna-
tionalAirport,ShanghaiDisneyland
andHaichangPolarOceanPark.
“It is likely to generate combined
effects and create theOrlando-Los
Angeles version ofChina,” saidOng
ChihChing, executive chairman and
executive director ofKOP, which
oversees the park’s operations, brand-
ing and international partnerships.
“For this project, we are not aim-
ing at justShanghai but at a global
stage,” saidOng. “It is complemen-tary toDisneyland as the latter has
consolidated its position with around
15 million footfalls per annum. We
can only take 3.2 million visitors on a
stabilized basis because it’s indoors.”
PopularIPrights, such as those
related to characters from movies
and shows, have become the central
plank.
“What differentiates our theme
parks from the others is that we will
incorporate advanced technologies,
family-orientedconcepts and, most
importantly, many famous comic
characters,” said VincentMontagne,
chairman ofEuropean multimedia
and publishing groupMedia-Partic-
ipations, which is elbowing its way
intoChina’s theme park market.
By joining hands withShanghai’s
DragonDeityCapital, the company
looks to build five or sixDragonDei-
tyInternational Village projects in
China over the next five years, with
the first such facility inShanghai.
According toLionsgate’sBrown,
itsChina entry is part of plans to
expand the company’s international
influence where its indigenousIP
elements are popular.
“We created experiences that are
immersive, that tell stories and are
organic to the brands,” she told the
AssociatedPress. “It’s a mix of all the
cutting-edge attractions that you’ll
find in entertainment right now.”
ShimaoGroup andInternational
MerchandisingPromotions and
Services will bring the firstSmurfs-
themed park to theAsia-Pacific
region.It will be located within the
ShanghaiSheshanNationalTourist
Resort.
InternationalMerchandisingPro-
motionsandServices is the official
licensor of theSmurfs, a series of
comic characters created byBelgian
artistPierreCulliford, akaPeyo.
“We hope theme parks can be not
onlyunfaiseurdeplaisantristes(a
joke maker) but the best compa-
nies during the growth of children,
thanks to the wealth of characters,”
saidPeng Yueqi, vice-president of
ShimaoCommercial andThemed
Entertainment.
Industry observers said the sus-
tainability of theme parks relies large-
ly on attractive themes and storylines.
Without these features, they are clas-
sified as mere amusement parks.
“It’s not that you display a dino-
saur or anUltraman model there
and call it a theme park,” saidDai
Bin, head of theChinaTourism
Academy. “Instead, it’s a place peo-
ple go to in pursuit of some kind of
emotion or value.Theme parks are
like live spaces where visitors can
interact with them.”
Although manyChinese theme
park developers and operators are
major real-estate developers with
strong financial capability and more
knowledge about the local market,
their major weakness is the lack of
well-knownIP,saidTimothyChen,
director of advisory services atCol-
liersInternational forEastChina.
“They need to be more innova-
tive and creative to construct more
themesbased on the knowledge of
the local culture and art to differenti-
ate their projects from their competi-
tors,” he said.Domestic,foreignoperatorsvieforbigmoney
inChinaascompetitionheatsup
Ridingthetheme
parkboom
Avisitor poseswithZootopiacharactersatShanghaiDisneyland.PHOTOSPROVIDEDTOCHINADAILYParticipantsintheDisneyInspirationRunarepicturedinfront of
EnchantedStorybookCastleatShanghaiDisneylandin April.CHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 2-8, 2019 BUSINESS 1 5