MARKET REPORT: ASIA
hotels at the resort, the new 700-room Disney Explorers Lodge is scheduled to open later this year. The resort will be marking its 20th
anniversary around 2025 and a second gate could very well
be on the cards in this time. Ocean Park, Hong Kong’s longest continually operating theme park, is expected to open a hotel adjacent to the park’s entrance as well as an indoor/outdoor waterpark within the next 18 months. A second hotel is also being planned.
Ramayana Water Park, Thailand
moving forward although groundbreaking announcements will most likely take another six to 12 months as the political situation stabilises. The country certainly has opportunity, especially given the increasing tourism arrivals from Greater China. Thailand sees a slight shift in product focus with waterparks
being the most popular and rewarding development. The kingdom’s preference for waterparks can be attributed to the respite that water-themed attractions can bring from the high heat and humidity experienced across the country. Some recent successful high profile openings include Ramayana Water Park and Cartoon Network AmaZONE in Pattaya and Vana Nava Water Jungle in Hua Hin. Looking ahead, the creation of an operating joint venture between Vana Nava and supplier WhiteWater should lead to additional waterparks regionally within the next two to three years. In Vietnam, local real estate developer Sun Group saw the opening of its first major theme park in the country in 2015, Asia Park Danang. The park continues to increase visitor numbers and introduced a new major rollercoaster earlier this year. Further north in Halong Bay, the Sun Group has teamed up with European operator Parques Reunidos to manage the Halong Dragon Park which opened in late 2016. The adjoining waterpark is expected to open later this year. In Hong Kong, we see the theme park market maturing. Both Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland saw their attendance numbers drop as a result of declining tourist arrivals from Mainland China in the last fiscal year. However, visitor numbers from other countries are on the rise and the local market remains healthy. In order to boost the regional appeal of Hong Kong Disneyland, an array of new attractions themed around the popular Marvel, Frozen and Moana films have been announced from 2018 through until 2023. Complementing the two existing
PARK WORLD Handbook & Buyers Guide 2017
SUMMARY It is evident that theme park and location-based entertainment developments are increasing in popularity and frequency across Asia. New and existing facilities are therefore pressed to keep the parks up to date with the latest ride technologies. Overall we are noticing an inclination for ride designers to promote innovation in rides and attractions with one of the most receptive and applicable trends being that of virtual reality. While VR may seem like the next common step forward, it remains challenging to keep the allocated media budgets aligned to reach the quality levels of current home or cinema applications with some of the developments. Nevertheless, audiences in Asia are known to be particularly receptive to attractions that integrate technolgy and it will be interesting to see some of the experiences that emerge over the coming years.
Based at the Fortune 500 firm's office in Hong Kong, Chris Yoshii is a global director at AECOM. (
www.aecom.com). Beth Chang, executive director, and Mark Wijman, associate director, also contributed to this article. The Economics professionals at AECOM help clients in theme parks, resorts, attractions and other tourism/cultural sectors make decisions about feasibility, financial requirements, social impact, risk and prospects for success. AECOM also researches and co-produces The Theme Index, the theme park and museum industry’s authoritative annual attendance survey.
Iron Man Experience is the first of several Marvel attractions planned for Hong Kong Disneyland
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