Why did Beijing choose Universal Studios?
In 2017, the Beijing Universal Resort is under construction.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
On September 20, the Beijing Universal Resort will officially open in Beijing's sub-center.
This is the third global theme park in Asia and the fifth in the world. It took 20 years from the signing of the cooperation agreement in 2001 to the opening of the park in 2021.
Wen Ziji, former deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau and former director of the Universal Theme Park Preparation Office, has witnessed these 20 years. In his opinion, Beijing’s introduction of the Universal Studios theme park is not only to increase the number of tourists and promote tourism consumption, but also In order to break through the bottleneck of tourism development, it is an inevitable choice.
Single tourism product, Beijing's tourism development faces a bottleneck
Beijing's tourism industry started with the reform and opening up, and also developed with the deepening of the reform and opening up.
Wen Ziji said that in the 1980s and 1990s, there were "trilemmas" that affected the travel experience of overseas tourists and restricted the development of Beijing's tourism industry, namely, difficulty in toileting, eating, and staying in stores.
In view of this, Beijing introduced foreign hotel management groups to improve the quality of tourism. By the end of the 1990s, the "trilemma" was resolved, and Beijing's tourism industry reached a new level of development.
However, the rapid development of Beijing's tourism industry is facing new problems and development bottlenecks.
Beijing has many historical and cultural heritages, among which the "Old Five" of the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Badaling, and Ming Tombs are the most representative. Foreign tourists must see the "Old Five" in Beijing.
"The'Old Five' are world-class attractions, but they are only sightseeing products after all. From the perspective of the development of Beijing's tourism industry, if there are only sightseeing products, it is too single, which also restricts the further development of Beijing's tourism industry." Wen Zi Ji said that the unity of tourism products not only restricts the growth of the number of tourists, but also makes tourists stay in Beijing for a shorter period of time, only 3 to 4 days.
How to extend the stay time of tourists has become an urgent problem to be solved.
Wen Ziji recalled that the former Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration had conducted thorough investigations and suggested the development of new tourism products, with the development direction of exhibition tourism and entertainment tourism.
This proposal is supported by the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.
Disneyland or Universal Studios theme park?
How does Beijing develop entertainment tourism?
Importing large theme parks from abroad is the most effective way.
From 2000 to 2001, the former Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau initiated a large number of investigations and studies. The staff fully investigated the top 10 theme parks in the world, including Disneyland and Universal Studios theme parks in the United States, Lotte Park in South Korea, and the Future of France. World theme parks, German European theme parks, etc., each park has its own characteristics.
Coincidentally, at almost the same time, the Universal Studios theme park team also came to Beijing at this time, tentatively starting the first trip to China at Universal Studios.
Public information shows that in September 1999, Universal Studios invested in Beijing and completed its first overseas project. This is the Beijing Universal Studios area located in the atrium of the Henderson Center.
It integrates sightseeing and leisure, and is divided into five parts: Starlight Plaza, Hollywood Adventure, Studio Store, Star Factory, and California Club.
Wen Ziji believes that this is a "test of the water" of the Universal Studios theme park in the Chinese market.
“We want to introduce large theme parks, so we must conduct research. It just so happens that the US also has a desire to enter the Chinese market, and they also need research.” Wen Ziji said that the Beijing Universal Studios area opened in the Henderson Center not only invites Beijing residents to experience the project. The U.S. personnel also invited citizens to fill out a questionnaire to learn about the spending power of Chinese tourists on the park and which items Chinese tourists like most.
On the other hand, the US personnel should also investigate how many theme parks there are in Beijing.
With so many world-class large-scale theme parks with unique characteristics, which park is the most suitable for Beijing to introduce?
This is a question that has to be carefully considered.
After comprehensive research, Beijing has targeted the most famous Universal Studios theme park and Disneyland.
Wen Ziji said: "Beijing wants to build a world-class city, and the projects we want to introduce must match this positioning. From another perspective, Beijing is the capital of China, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the Badaling Great Wall. Which one is not world-famous? Attractions? If the scale of the theme park we introduce is small, let alone in the world, it will not have much influence in China. At the same time, if we want to use this project as a new product to promote the development of Beijing’s international tourism, it can To match the weight of our sightseeing products, it must be the world's highest-level theme park, so we can only choose between Disney and Universal Studios."
What's interesting is that more than two decades ago, Beijing residents did not know much about Universal Studios' theme parks as well as Disney.
"At that time, we hired a third-party company to do market research in Beijing, regardless of whether it was a child, a middle-aged person, or an elderly person. Do you know Disney? Almost everyone said that. Disney's popularity in China is almost 100%. . But if you ask, do you know Universal Studios? Most people don’t know, and some citizens will ask, “Is this a movie theater?”
Despite this, Beijing finally chose Universal Studios, which is less familiar to Beijing tourists, based on many considerations.
Wen Ziji said, first of all, Beijing’s climatic conditions, “Universal Studios has more indoor projects than Disney. Beijing’s winter is relatively cold, and the climate characteristics determine that Universal Studios is more suitable for Beijing.” Second, Universal Studios’ new projects are updated faster. , A stronger sense of science and technology.
"Disney and Universal Studios each have their own characteristics and advantages, but for Beijing, Universal Studios is more suitable."
The first phase of the project starts the establishment of the Sino-US Joint Preparatory Office
Around 2000, China and the United States coincidentally conducted a survey on whether to introduce the Universal Studios theme park to Beijing.
Based on this, in 2001, Pete Wang, head of the Beijing Representative Office of Universal Studios Theme Park (transliteration), took the initiative to visit the original Beijing Tourism Bureau, and Wen Ziji received him.
"Pete Wang expressed the hope that the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau would support them in building an experience center. At the same time, he also wanted to know about the development of Beijing's tourism industry. After that, we had a preliminary discussion on how to build Universal Studios in Beijing. ."
In 2001, Pete Wang brought the opinions and ideas of the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau to the Universal Studios theme park headquarters. In October of that year, the Chairman and CEO of Universal Studios Theme Parks and Resorts Group and a group of 7 people took a special plane. Flew to Beijing.
"This is a very well-prepared meeting." Recalling the scene of the year, Wen Ziji described it like this.
In October 2001, a high-level delegation of Universal Studios theme parks signed a "joint venture agreement" with Beijing, which clearly stated that "it is necessary to build and operate world-class theme parks."
Afterwards, a high-level delegation of Universal Studios theme parks and BTG signed an agreement on the feasibility study of Beijing Universal Studios theme parks.
Wen Ziji said that this is a formal agreement that is more rigorous and covers more content. The agreement clarifies the details of project development, "who will do it, how to do it, how long it will take to complete it, how much investment in the project... It must be reflected in this agreement."
In November 2001, the first phase of the Beijing Universal Studios theme park project was officially launched, and large-scale market research began.
At the same time, the Sino-US Joint Preparatory Office for Beijing Universal Studios Theme Park was established, and Wen Ziji was appointed as the director of the preparatory office. Various departments in Beijing transferred elite troops to join the preparatory office.
50 projects are confirmed by market research and 22 projects
With the launch of the project, research on the source market of Tianjin and Hebei has been gradually carried out.
Wen Ziji said: "We took the Beijing Universal Studios theme park as the center and drew a'circle' with a diameter of 500 kilometers and a diameter of 100 kilometers, and analyzed the market situation. Tianjin and Hebei were within the scope of the'circle'." For the survey, at that time The Tianjin and Hebei Tourism Bureau and the Statistics Bureau have given great support.
In addition, the general planner of Universal Studios’ theme parks completes the overall plan of the park, including the overall layout and details, such as where the gate opens, the conceptual drawing of the first and second phases of the scenic spot, the number of people receiving each scenic spot and scenic spot, and the number of visitors to the scenic spot each year. The maximum number of tourists, the average number of tourists, etc.
In addition to macro investigations, "micro" investigations are also underway.
To what extent is "micro"?
Wen Ziji said: "Everyone knows that there are many entertainment projects in Universal Studios, but which project should we build and which project should not be built. These have to be investigated. If we introduce a roller coaster, should we build a double-track roller coaster or other forms of roller coaster. These are not thoughts out, but rely on a lot of investigation."
In addition, the survey content also includes surveys on consumer preferences.
"At that time, the US team at Universal Studios brought about 37 ready-made large-scale projects, and with the suggestions of the Chinese team, a total of about 50 projects entered the market for research." Gender, etc. are divided into several groups, and they are marked on the questionnaire. “It is finally determined that 22 large-scale projects will enter Universal Studios Beijing. Now, Universal Beijing Resort is about to open, with 7 major scenic spots and 22 large-scale projects, so It can be said that the number of 22 was actually determined 20 years ago."
Project approval has been suspended and shelved and finally approved
At the end of 2002, the feasibility study of Beijing Universal Studios theme park was completed.
In 2003, the project proposal was submitted to the original National Development Planning Commission, but due to the national macro-control policy, the project approval process was suspended.
In 2008, the Beijing Municipal Government decided to make the Beijing Universal Studios project a key project to stimulate the economic development of Beijing after the Olympics and the adjustment and upgrading of the tourism industry structure and submit it to the State Council again; in December of that year, as the main Chinese investor in the Beijing Universal Resort Developer and builder-BTG and Global Group signed a framework agreement centered on intellectual property licensing, and prepared application documents and submitted them to the National Development and Reform Commission.
Over the years since then, the Beijing Universal Studios project has experienced many ups and downs, such as further research and demonstration, and temporary shelving, but no substantial progress has been made.
Until 2013, the project finally ushered in good news: In June 2013, the 14th executive meeting of the State Council studied and approved Beijing’s intention to build the Universal Studios project.
"I almost shed tears when I heard this news." Recalling the scene at the time, Wen Ziji was still very excited.
"Our goal is to promote the development of Beijing's tourism industry through the Universal Studios project, and drive the improvement of the management level of theme parks, scenic spots, and attractions. If the project is not realized, the losses will be great, so we cannot give up."
Construction ran out of "acceleration" and passed the epidemic test to advance construction
On July 27, 2018, the Beijing Universal Resort officially started, and since then it has entered the "fast lane" of construction. Beijing has given it strong support in terms of policies.
"This was originally an earthwork field. We moved in in a raging environment." The Universal Studios theme park during trial operation is now beautiful and tidy, but Xu Liping, vice president of Beijing International Resorts Co., Ltd., still remembers this place three years ago. Look like.
"On July 27, 2018, this is an important time node." Xu Liping said that the Universal Studios project was constructed under the premise of having complete procedures, and basically did not use the city's "one meeting and three letters". In this process, the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Planning and Self-Administration, the Municipal Housing and Construction Commission and the relevant departments of Tongzhou District have been strongly supported. The formal formalities have been handled at one time, saving a lot of time in construction.
Xu Liping said that the US originally planned the construction period of the project to be five years, while the Chinese construction took only half of the time.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau also added the project to the "white list" and gave it a "green light"-provided that environmental protection measures are in place, the resort can continue construction operations in polluted weather.
"With the strong support of government departments, we also manage the construction site in accordance with the most stringent standards in the construction industry. Not only do we do well in ground hardening, green net coverage, fixed-point and mobile spraying, but also to reduce dust by planting flowers and plants in the open space.
At the end of 2019, the entire main structure of the project was completed.
However, at this moment, the sudden new crown epidemic brought unprecedented challenges to project construction.
Just after the Spring Festival holiday, workers from more than a dozen provinces have difficulty returning to Beijing due to epidemic prevention and control.
For this reason, the company adopts special car and train special trains to bring workers from various places back to Beijing point-to-point.
However, under the severe situation of the epidemic situation abroad, it has become a problem for foreign managers and creative personnel to return to China.
Under the leadership of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Government, the company has received strong support from the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and the Beijing Epidemic Prevention and Production Resumption Team to charter flights in three batches to bring about 400 employees from the United States and Europe back to Beijing to ensure the construction of the park in all aspects do it according to plan.
The man came back, and the material was still a problem.
Xu Liping said that the supply of materials for the Universal Studios project involves 18 provinces across the country, including construction materials, decoration materials and various equipment.
Through the coordination of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Cooperative Office, more than 100 manufacturers from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have resumed production one after another, giving priority to supplying materials for the Universal Studios project.
At the peak of project construction in July 2020, the entire Universal Resort site will have at most 36,000 builders working simultaneously.
In February 2019, "Universal Studio Beijing" finally got its official name-"Universal Beijing Resort".
Speaking of this change, Wen Ziji said: "We are worried that if we use the'Universal Studios', some citizens will mistakenly think it is a cinema. The name of the US team is also acceptable."
Beijing Universal Resort will open soon, and Beijing will add a new landmark of cultural tourism. The lack of heavyweight theme parks in the tourism market in northern my country will be broken in one fell swoop.
Memorabilia of Universal Resort
October 2001
The high-level delegation of Universal Studios theme parks signed a "joint venture agreement" with Beijing, which clearly stated "to build and operate world-class theme parks."
End of 2002
The feasibility study of Beijing Universal Studios theme park was completed.
Year 2003
The project proposal was submitted to the original National Development Planning Commission, but due to the national macro-control policy, the project approval process was suspended.
Year 2008
The Beijing Municipal Government decided to make the Beijing Universal Studios project a key project to stimulate the economic development of Beijing after the Olympics and the adjustment and upgrading of the tourism industry structure, and it was once again reported to the State Council.
February 2009
The executive meeting of the State Council requested the National Development and Reform Commission and the Beijing Municipal Government to conduct further in-depth research and demonstration on the Beijing Universal Studios project based on the opinions put forward by the meeting.
August 2011
Relevant national departments halted the construction boom of large-scale theme parks in China, and the Beijing Universal Studios project was once again temporarily shelved.
October 2012
The Beijing Municipal Government included the Universal Studios project on the list of "Major Projects for National Approval".
June 2013
The 14th executive meeting of the State Council examined and approved Beijing’s intention to build a Universal Studios project.
September 2014
The National Development and Reform Commission officially approved the project application report, and the project entered the stage of deepening research, design and construction.
September 13, 2015
The joint venture agreement was signed, involving more than 20 important business agreements.
July 27, 2018
Beijing Universal Resort officially started construction.
February 2019
"Universal Studio Beijing" was officially named "Universal Beijing Resort".
September 2021
The Beijing Universal Resort will be grandly opened.
Beijing News reporter Wu Tingting Zhang Lu