Asia-Pacific
www.parkworld-online.com
“Our unique family fun is pretty universal. We appeal to nearly everyone and our core market is blue collar, middle class families. This bodes well for APAC as the middle class is growing, with discretionary income heading to education and family entertainment. Our Odditorium attractions are right at the intersection of those axes, balancing unique artifacts with family fun,” explains Danau. “Traditionally, our franchise partners have been other operators looking for a unique and branded attraction to add to their existing line-up. In APAC, most of our interested partners are new to the attraction business. We bring lots of collective knowledge and support from our successes and mistakes over the years. So we can position ourselves as much more than just a brand.” Despite the wealth of experience within Ripley’s, challenges are inevitable when entering new markets. As the company’s point man in the APAC region, Danau is no stranger to having to be nimble to meet the demands of the local market. “One of the key strategies when we open attractions outside of the United States of America is to make sure we localize the product appropriately,” he explains. “This means working with our local partners to adapt several things. For sure, we don’t want to offend anyone, so we make sure to filter through our exhibits, interactives, and designs to remove or change any culturally insensitive items. The more challenging thing to adapt though is the humor. Oftentimes, however, a play on words or images won’t translate or make sense, so we’re always trying to overcome the language barrier and design something that will appeal to the local market. This is becoming more and more difficult as the diversity of visitors increases, for example, finding the right balance in the Thai market that is heavily dominated by Russian, Indian, and Chinese tourists.”
The perfect location “Our attractions entertain families from 15 minutes to over two hours depending on the type of mix in a market,” says Danau, discussing the perfect location for a Ripley’s Odditorium. “We love beach towns, and other high traffic tourist areas. When a family visits the beach, they’re bound to encounter a rainy day, or simply need a break from the sun. That’s where we come in. We offer a simple and affordable option where the family can spend time together, make memories, and escape the outdoors. Our first location in Mainland China will be in Harbin, quite the opposite of a beach town, but we expect a very similar effect where families primarily going for the annual ice festival or nature, will need a break from the outdoors and want to visit something unique and fun.”
When it comes to specifics, Danau’s enthusiasm is palpable.
“I love metrics!” he proclaims. “Our attractions are generally built around a low labor cost model, so they typically require only a handful of front line team members, generally as cashiers. A typical set of marketing, sales, and accounting professionals would be required depending on the scale of the attractions cluster or they could be integrated as part of a larger group role. It’s important to have a strong general manager and sales team. The size of a Believe It or Not Odditorium can range from 800sqm to 2,000sqm or more and the length of stay can vary between 30 minutes and 90 minutes or more. Each attraction is unique, and the size and investment in interactives helps to extend the dwell time.” “The level of investment varies depending on the size and type of attractions going in,” explains Danau “Our franchising model allows our partners to design the attraction and do most of the fit out locally, which means costs are localized to a market. Roughly speaking, a Believe It or Not! Odditorium could cost anywhere from $2,000,000 to $8,000,000 depending on the size and city you’re building in.”
The perfect partner “In North America, we primarily own and operate our attractions,” says Danau about the company’s business model. “Internationally, we prefer to partner with a strong local partner that can help navigate the local culture and laws. We find that the franchise model works very well and allows each partner the flexibility and value to create a successful business while maintaining our standards and best practices.” One such partner is the Only World Group, owner of the Genting Highlands Resort in Malaysia. Danau describes the new Ripley’s attraction at the Highlands as “fantastic”. He elaborates: “It incorporates our most recent best practices in design and takes advantage of an exceptionally high ceiling, which gave us and our partner the flexibility to bring some really stunning pieces of our collection to Malaysia. We worked with our team to create ‘The Luckiest Room in the World’ as a tribute to the massive casino literally below us. We brought together a collection of lucky symbols and charms from around the world including a million dollar Buddha, Olympic torch, and ancient gambling coins to name a few. Though my absolute favorite exhibit is the King of Gators. I won’t give away who this 3.6 metre, 230kg alligator belonged to, but he grew up at the Neverland Ranch!” Based in Hong Kong, Mark Wijman is director with LKF Attractions. He is a former associate director at AECOM, specialising in the leisure and cultural sector in the Asia-Pacific region.
MAY 2018 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62
