As the countdown to the opening of Universal Beijing Resort, how will the local theme park "challenge"?

  Beijing News (Reporter Zheng Yijia) For the domestic theme park industry, September 20 this year is destined to be an extraordinary day.

Universal Beijing Resort is about to formally join the battle for the Chinese theme park market with a highly anticipated posture.

Following the Shanghai Disneyland, the domestic theme park market once again ushered in "bell ringers", and local theme parks in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are at the forefront of market competition.

The starting gun is about to pull the trigger. Are the contestants ready?

  The debut of Universal Beijing Resort is the "C" position

  deal!

After a long wait, Beijing Universal Resort finally announced the opening date of the park-September 20.

At that time, Beijing Universal Studios Theme Park, Beijing Universal City Avenue, Universal Studios Hotel and NUO Resort Hotel will all be put into operation, and domestic tourists can finally experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Minions in their "home" Paradise... On September 1, the trial operation of Beijing Universal Resort was also announced.

  After Xiao Feng heard the news, he quickly spread it to relatives and friends of all sizes.

When it reached the Beijing News reporter, her excitement overflowed the screen of her mobile phone: "I have waited from university until now, and it finally opened!" At this point, 6 years have passed since the Beijing Universal Resort project was officially signed in September 2015. time.

  Regrettably, Xiao Feng is now in Shanghai, and traveling to and from Beijing is not as convenient as when he went to school in Beijing.

But this was not a big trouble for her, and she searched for the ticket in a hurry.

  There are not a few people like Feng.

After Universal Beijing Resort finalized the opening date, related searches on major OTA platforms ushered in skyrocketing: Ctrip's visit to Universal Beijing Resort soared by 830%, and the search volume for flights to Beijing during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday increased by 11 times compared with last week. , Searches related to travel on the same journey rose 400% month-on-month...

  It is not difficult to predict that in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, Beijing Universal Resort will become the "C position" of the domestic tourism market.

Under the light of Beijing Universal Resort, the theme park market in Beijing and even the entire Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will also usher in tremendous changes.

  Miao Lewen, President and General Manager of Universal Beijing Resort, told the Beijing News reporter: “What Universal Resort Beijing creates is a completely immersive experience, starting from all aspects of amusement facilities, architecture, retail catering, etc., so that visitors can immerse themselves in In the storyline, this is what differentiates us from other theme parks. We believe that Universal Beijing Resort will become a good supplement to the Chinese theme park market."

  The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei theme park is "fighting up", how are you preparing?

  At present, domestic theme parks are mainly concentrated in the three major regions of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has the layout of theme parks such as Happy Valley, Fangte and Haichang Ocean Park.

After the opening of the Beijing Universal Resort, the local theme parks in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are at the forefront of market competition.

  According to industry insiders, the Beijing Universal Resort will inevitably affect the passenger flow of other theme parks at the beginning of the park.

Taking Happy Valley as an example, data shows that Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016.

In the same year, the number of tourists to Shanghai Happy Valley changed from the past growth, with a year-on-year decrease of 50,000 to 2.92 million.

In 2017, the number of tourists to Shanghai Happy Valley rebounded to 3 million, but ticket revenue remained at the level of 2016, at 340 million yuan.

  In response, Beijing Happy Valley reduced the price to promote the annual card in the form of preferential treatment.

It is reported that the standard price of Beijing Happy Valley Annual Pass is 780 yuan per adult, and the price of a single-day adult ticket is 299 yuan per adult.

In 2019, the annual card price of Beijing Happy Valley is 598 yuan per card, but it will be sold for 12 days.

In 2020, according to incomplete statistics from a reporter from the Beijing News, Beijing Happy Valley has launched at least three annual card discounts, and discounts have been in use for almost half a year.

  And this year, Beijing Happy Valley directly extended the annual card purchase discount period to April 3rd to October 8, and the price is also lower than the 2019 discount price.

According to the official WeChat Mini Program, there are currently three types of Beijing Happy Valley Annual Cards, namely Changyou Card for 499 yuan, Weekday Staggered Card for 399 yuan, and annual card user renewal for 399 yuan.

Changyou Card and Annual Card user renewal is limited to one year and can play unlimited times in Beijing Happy Valley.

  According to the WeChat applet of Beijing Happy Valley, the Changyou Card has now become the highest sales item of Beijing Happy Valley Annual Card, with a total of 326,700 purchases, while the other two sales totaled 45,800.

As Beijing Happy Valley’s annual card sales do not show the date, the time frame of the sales cannot be determined yet.

If calculated at the price of 499 yuan, Beijing Happy Valley’s Changyou card has accumulated revenue of 163 million yuan, and its total ticket revenue in 2017 was 322 million yuan.

  Lin Huanjie, Dean of the China Theme Park Research Institute, said: “The opening of Beijing Universal Resort will have a'honeymoon period' for local residents, which is bound to divert the passenger flow of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei theme parks to a certain extent. The passenger flow of theme parks will still recover. Beijing Happy Valley avoids the influence of Universal Studios Beijing by selling annual cards, which is also an effective measure."

  Feedback from some consumers also confirms this statement.

During the interview, some consumers told the Beijing News reporter that even if the Beijing Universal Resort opens, it will not affect other theme parks.

"Although the facilities at Universal Studios are great, we still go to other theme parks. Many of my friends have the habit of buying annual cards. Because of the right price/performance ratio, they can often go to play."

  In this context, the passenger flow of Beijing Universal Resort is bound to differentiate from other theme parks in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.

As a world-class destination, Beijing Universal Resort has a more diverse source of tourists, while other theme parks will continue to take on the role of absorbing local daily tourists.

  Expert: Players who do not want to make progress may be "abandoned"

  In the eyes of industry insiders, the opening of Beijing Universal Resort will further force domestic theme parks to become exquisite.

After the Shanghai Disney Resort landed, the domestic theme park IP ushered in an unprecedented degree of discussion.

After the opening of the Beijing Universal Resort, local theme parks may face the proposition of "how to make your own thing" more deeply.

  Lin Huanjie said that after the opening of the Beijing Universal Resort, in order to cope with competition, the surrounding themes and even the theme parks across the country will further emphasize differentiation.

This differentiation is not only in content, but also in operations.

  "Before there was Shanghai Disneyland, and now the domestic theme park industry has ushered in Universal Studios Beijing." Lin Huanjie said, "Universal Beijing Resort will bring a pulling effect to domestic theme parks, forcing theme parks in the surrounding areas to respond to content, The improvement of IP and branding will affect all aspects of upstream and downstream, such as material supply, derivatives, management methods, etc. If the improvement does not keep up, it will definitely be abandoned.” In addition, Lin Huanjie also reminded that Shanghai Disneyland and Beijing Universal Pictures There are obvious differences between cities. There is no situation where tourists will not go to one of them, and Shanghai Disneyland will not be affected by Universal Studios.

  Similar cases may be glimpsed from Universal Studios itself.

Some analysts pointed out that the operation of Universal Studios Osaka was not smooth at the beginning, and since it opened, it has suffered frequent losses. The reason is not only the geographical location and errors in the operation of the park, but also the performance and amusement projects that are not as good as Tokyo Disney. Some tourists think that some of the two projects are similar.

  After nearly 9 years of sluggishness, Universal Studios Osaka "learned from experience", not only expanded its focus to family tourists, but also made a lot of innovative adjustments to existing projects, plus the blessing of the world's second Harry Potter theme park , Universal Studios Osaka finally completed a gorgeous transformation.

In 2019, the number of visitors to Universal Studios Osaka reached 14.5 million.

  Chen Shaofeng, deputy dean of the Institute of Cultural Industry of Peking University, said that in the expression of culture and art, technology is becoming more and more powerful, and it will gradually make fun, beautiful and useful things more attractive, thereby promoting consumption.

"Harry Potter saved Universal Studios Osaka. Once these IPs become things in the theme park, they can be sold for a lifetime."

  In this context, how to realize such a "perpetual motion machine" has become a problem.

In Lin Huanjie's view, domestic theme parks need to take the national cultural route.

"It is impossible for local theme parks to "support the field" by introducing a foreign IP. They can only do Chinese culture, seek resonance by digging out Chinese culture, and finally realize cultural output."

  Chen Shaofeng suggested that the methods of Hollywood can be borrowed to make Chinese cultural elements.

"For example, we can learn from "Kung Fu Panda", and Beijing Universal Studios also has related areas. The content of "Kung Fu Panda" is very Chinese, and it is indeed welcomed by Chinese audiences. Inheritance and innovation can be learned from foreign experience and combined with traditional culture. Carry out new integration and make innovation through the combination of Chinese and Western."

  Beijing News reporter Zheng Yijia