Beijing News (Reporter Zheng Yijia) The peak summer tourist season is coming soon, and new theme parks are "getting together" to open up to seize the summer market.
According to industry insiders, if the passenger flow of domestic theme parks in this summer can reach 80% of the same period in previous years, it can be announced that it will basically resume.
While the theme park is recovering, the investment enthusiasm for related cultural tourism projects is still high.
Now that 2021 has passed halfway, what kind of answers will each theme park hand over in the context of the normalization of epidemic prevention and control?
The theme park "gets together" opened to seize the summer market
Affected by the epidemic, major domestic theme parks pressed the pause button at the beginning of last year, and it was not until mid-to-late March that they began to resume operations under current limiting conditions.
For many theme parks, 2021 is the first year of full operation under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control.
During the May 1st holiday this year, the country ushered in a peak of travel. The reception volume of each park in Haichang Ocean Park exceeded the historical peak of the same period. The single-day revenue of Beijing Happy Valley reached 10 million yuan. Huaqiang Fantawild also ushered in the peak of passenger flow.
Various market performances have injected a "bolster" into the industry's rebound.
At present, the summer tourist season is approaching. According to the same journey travel data, the national civil aviation passenger traffic in 2021 is expected to return to the level before the epidemic. It is estimated that the passenger flow of train travel in July will increase by 60% compared with the same period last year. The passenger flow of the entire summer is expected. Compared with the recovery ratio of 95%-100% in the same period in 2019, theme parks are still one of the most popular tourist destinations.
In order to cope with the summer trip, the theme parks have also made sufficient preparations, and the new theme parks are "getting together" to open.
Recently, Huaqiang Fantawild announced that Ningbo Fantawild Oriental Yuxiao Theme Park will open on July 9. This is also the second project of the new theme park brand "East Yuxiao" under Huaqiang Fantawild.
It is reported that Ningbo Fantawild Oriental Yuxiao is adjacent to another theme park, Ningbo Fantawild Oriental Painting, which is another theme park under Huaqiang Fantawild. It has an investment of 3 billion yuan, covers an area of 400,000 square meters, and has a designed annual tourist reception capacity of more than 3 million.
On June 26, Guilin Sunac International Tourism Resort and Hangzhou Bay Sunac Water World officially opened.
Among them, Hangzhou Bay Sunac Water World is the first amusement format opened in Hangzhou Bay Sunac Cultural Tourism City, and it is currently Sunac Cultural Tourism’s largest single outdoor water park in the country. In the future, Hangzhou Bay Sunac Cultural Tourism City will continue. Launch of theme parks, theme commercial streets, high-end hotel clusters and other projects.
On June 19th, Maya Beach, the first project of Xi’an Happy Valley, began trial operation. Xi’an Happy Valley is the ninth Happy Valley in China, and it is also the theme park with the highest one-time total investment and unit investment in Happy Valley.
"As of now, China's theme parks have handed in a very good answer. If this summer passenger flow can reach 80% of the same period in previous years, it can be said to be basically restored." said Lin Huanjie, director of the China Theme Park Research Institute.
Expansion plans are successively disclosed, and the theme park market may be "shuffled"
While the industry is recovering, investment in local theme parks is also advancing.
In September 2020, Shaoxing Municipal People's Government signed a contract with Huaqiang Fangte to launch three cultural tourism projects in Shaoxing, namely "Bear Infested Paradise", "Bear Infested Water World" and "Shaoxing Chinese Culture Expo Park", with a total investment of 4.9 billion yuan.
In October, the Huaqiang Fangte Wudang Mountain Chinese Traditional Cultural Park project was officially finalized, with a total investment of 5.1 billion yuan, of which 3.1 billion was invested in theme parks.
In March of this year, the Huaqiang Fantawild Bear Haunt Project landed in Yichun, which was planned to cover the Bear Haunted Park and the Bear Haunted Water World.
The relevant person in charge of Huaqiang Fangte told the Beijing News reporter: “Fantawild Animation Park, Bear-Haunted Town, Bear-Haunted Park, Fangte’s Zigong Dinosaur Kingdom, Fangte’s Yin Shang God Paintings, and Fangte’s “Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism” as the theme. Fantawild theme parks such as the Chinese Traditional Culture Park will be launched in the next few years." It is reported that in the future, Fantawild will also promote the branding of theme parks tailored to the consumer needs and local characteristics of different regions.
In addition, Haichang Ocean Park won the bid for the land use rights of the Linwang area of Haitang Bay in Sanya City and the Lingang New Area of Shanghai Free Trade Zone in September last year and January of this year, respectively, and plans to form a tourism centered on Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park. Vacation and leisure destinations, and strengthen the product format of the Sanya project.
Overseas Chinese Town A recently revealed that in the future, it will continue to deploy Happy Valley chain theme parks in first-tier and strong second-tier cities, and explore the layout of sub-brands and sub-products based on the parent brand of "Happy Valley" in second- and third-tier cities across the country, and actively promote the layout of water parks.
From the perspective of industry insiders, although the theme park industry has been hit by the epidemic before, the domestic investment in tourism and entertainment remains enthusiastic.
"One is that China's GDP growth has not changed since the impact of the epidemic; the second is that the investment in tourism and entertainment has not changed from the current reports in various places; and the third is that consumers' enthusiasm for pursuing a better life and entertainment has not changed." Lin Huanjie said, “But on the other hand, the emergence of so many investments, tourists and new projects will inevitably eliminate a number of projects with poor regional locations, no IP and story lines, lack of update capabilities, no funds, and no management and operation capabilities. It's a good phenomenon." Lin Huanjie predicted that there will be no more than 10 theme park brands that will play the leading role in the Chinese market in the future.
Online and offline integration into a new way
Under the background of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, major theme parks are also ushering in new changes.
In addition to safety and epidemic prevention measures such as appointments for admission and enhanced disinfection, domestic theme parks are also exploring more areas such as customer acquisition, marketing, and revenue sources.
A reporter from the Beijing News found that since March 2020, a group of theme park brands such as Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, Happy Valley, Dalian Shengya, Fantawild Theme Park and other theme park brands have collectively stationed in Station B.
According to incomplete statistics, the theme park account with the largest number of fans at station B is Fangte Theme Park, with 15,000 fans.
In addition, there are also a series of "tricks" such as live broadcast of goods, sponsorship of variety shows, and launch of co-branded products to increase the popularity of the theme park.
Wang Xuguang, executive director of Haichang Ocean Park Holdings Co., Ltd., said that due to the impact of the epidemic, the "contactless economy" has accelerated development. Online marketing methods such as live broadcast and short video have become mainstream choices for scenic spots to break through the brand dilemma, and the proportion of online leisure will increase Increase.
Driven by technology, the future experience model has also changed, and online + offline experience upgrades will explode.
According to industry insiders, major theme parks, including Disneyland, are now relaxing entrusted ticket sales agencies, expanding marketing channels through various means, actively cooperating with schools and companies, and through various activities and benefits. Explore the consumer market with a more proactive attitude than in the past.
In 2020, major theme park performance collective "Waterloo".
OCT A tourism integrated business revenue fell 42.67% year-on-year, Huaqiang Fangte's net profit fell 38.84% year-on-year to 485 million yuan, Haichang Ocean Park and Dalian Sunya lost 1.478 billion yuan and 69.98 million yuan respectively.
Now that 2021 has passed halfway, what kind of answers will each theme park hand over under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control?
Proofreading Wang Xin
Photographed by Beijing News reporter Zheng Yijia