JULY/AUGUST 2019 businesstraveller.comTHIS PAGE
FROM TOP:
Novotown;
and Hengqin
Island skyline
OPPOSITE PAGE:
Chimelong
Hengqin Bay
HotelGuests at the resort on Hengqin can also choose
to stay at the themed Chimelong Circus Hotel or
Chimelong Penguin Hotel. (A fourth hotel is also under
construction.) From these, hotel guests have easy access
to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park, which
features rides, a 5D theatre and animal exhibitions.
“Actually, Ocean Kingdom is one of the best parks
in China because they imported a lot of know-how
from Hong Kong and Macau. It’s really one of the
first homegrown parks which really levers on an
international scale,” says Dr Schuckert. “The guys who
are running Chimelong [Ocean Kingdom] are partially
from Disney and partially from Ocean Park [a theme
park in Hong Kong ], so they are coming with a solid
know-how in the business.”
But for those familiar with Macau, there’s one thing
conspicuously missing from these hotels: there are no
casinos or gambling of any kind to be found. Casinos
remain prohibited in the mainland – though of course,
should mum and dad fancy a f lutter, Macau is just a
short drive away, and customs and immigration operate
24/7, meaning you could viably slip out to play a few
hands of midnight baccarat in The Venetian (or other
casino hotel of your choice) and get back to your hotel
in Hengqin before the kids even realise you’re gone.
Another major tourism development in Hengqin
is Novotown. At the time of writing, Novotown,
which is being developed by Hong Kong company Lai
Sun Group, is still very much a building site and feelslike it’s in the middle of nowhere. But later this year,
the 260,000 sqm site is set to be transformed into a
multipurpose entertainment and meetings space.
Features will include Lionsgate Entertainment
World, which will be Asia’s first movie-themed indoor
experience centre and aims to bring to life some of the
most successful Lionsgate productions, including The
Hunger Games, The Twilight Saga, The Divergent Series,
Now You See Me, Gods of Eg ypt and Escape Plan.
Then there’s the National Geographic Ultimate
Explorer, which will be an “edutainment centre”
LAI FUNG GROUP; CGTN.COM that “combines and presents wonders from science,32