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3.4m


Universal Studios, Singapore visitors


reports, had an attractive 3.4 million visitors — a good first year attendance number with room for growth. Looking at the top 20 list, we see the bottom 10 parks actually growing at a faster rate than the top 10 parks. This means plenty of opportunity for parks with annual attendance of two million visitors to increase to three or four million visitors in a short time frame.


What unique characteristics is the industry manifesting as it grows in Asia? How is the East changing the face of themed entertainment?


There are some different categories of parks that are coming through that are worth noting. So far, they are parks below the Top 20 in attendance, newly opened and kind of bubbling up. One category is a large-scale aquarium or marine park, with content akin to that of SeaWorld. There are a number of these and it’s a fairly new thing in Asia. Then there’s a type of park that is more of a cultural show park, highly themed with a big live show element targeting the tour market. The Asia market loves shows and live entertainment and there is a growing market for high end shows and show elements, multimedia spectaculars, night shows, and lake shows that are well choreographed, with Cirque- du-Soleil type acrobatics.


Also, it’s very characteristic for theme parks to be planned and built as part of more integrated developments — whole communities where there are hotels, retail and residential developments. The scale of these integrated developments varies from single blocks with large indoor entertainment areas to entire new districts of cities and resort destinations.


What’s not happening so much are the thrill coasters. You rarely hear anyone bragging about the “biggest- fastest-tallest” ride. This is a significant difference to other parts of the world. Asia is not about thrill, but about show. Universal Studio Osaka recently announced Harry Potter will be coming to Japan by the end of 2014 emphasizing theme and show over


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