After the New Year's Day holiday, 2024 will officially start a new journey. Looking back on the past year, after the return of mass travel to the right track, the market burst out with surging vitality, and the accelerated release of consumers' diversified travel demand, making travel companies see the hope of ice and snow melting after three years of "cold winter", and also feel the long-lost "spring".
2024 will be a more critical and highly anticipated year for the tourism market and tourism enterprises, after the adjustment in 2023 and the insight into the market changes and consumer changes after the restart, what posture and pace to sprint to 2024 has become an important issue in front of tourism enterprises.
The same is true for the theme park sector. As early as November last year, the China Theme Park Research Institute released a "2023 China Theme Park Competitiveness Evaluation Report", which mentioned that according to the statistics of 80 large and extra-large theme parks included in the evaluation, it will receive a total of about 7,573 tourists in 2023610,000 person-times, with a total operating income of about 1535.9 billion yuan. Compared with the number of theme parks in 2022, when the number of theme parks was 70, the number of visitors received in 2023 increased slightly year-on-year, and in addition, due to the inclusion of theme parks such as Universal Studios Beijing, Xiangyang OCT Fantasy Valley, and Taiyuan Fangte, revenue showed strong growth.
The reason for this is that the report points out that the addition of large-scale theme parks such as Universal Beijing Resort, which officially opened in September 2022, has played a very big role in boosting the overall revenue of theme parks, and on the other hand, it is also because the factors affecting theme park revenue are more diversified, and derivative income other than ticket revenue is also increasing.
As the publisher of the reportLin Huanjie, President of China Theme Park Research InstituteIt is also mentioned that in 2023, although the market activity is increasing, the entertainment options for consumers are also increasing, and long-distance travel is resuming again, and the competitive pressure for theme parks is not decreasing, but facing greater and more complex challenges.
Recently, Wenlv was fortunate to invite Dean Lin Huanjie to give an in-depth sharing on the new trends that may appear in the development of theme parks in 2024, which are divided into eight dimensions, and the new changes that will or are taking place in the theme park market are expected to provide reference for the prospects of theme park enterprises in 2024.
Trend 1
Theme parks will look more at remarketing value
The traffic value of the new platformIt is a new opportunity that enterprises are accelerating the layout of after the Internet dividend. For theme parks, the attributes of entertainment content are more compatible with new channels such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, and marketing activities in the form of short + live broadcast have become a new tool for theme parks to attract "grass".
Taking Douyin as an example, in 2023, the "Good Travel Festival" planned by it will unite with a number of water parks to plan a marketing campaign in the summer, "Day + night, the one-stop immersive play experience of the park + ** has attracted many young people to check in and experience, and the event information will be transmitted to more people in a combination of online and offline ways, and the short ** content produced by tourists has become the biggest starting point for promoting the summer marketing of theme parks, and the highest revenue of the park on the Douyin platform has achieved a daily increase of 400%.
The same is true of Xiaohongshu, which has become an efficient platform for tourists to "plant grass", taking Chimelong's "planting grass" for parent-child customers on Xiaohongshu as an example, in order to attract the parent-child customers of surrounding families and seize the trend of "walking babies in situ", Chimelong has achieved the goal of "planting grass" online through the path of "seeing-searching-sending" in Xiaohongshu, and through the official planning of commercial content sharing + UGC content produced by visiting tourists, Chimelong has achieved a precise customer base and achieved a long-term grass planting effect.
In 2024, the value of new marketing for the daily marketing of theme parks and the marketing of key holiday activities will be further amplified, with the deepening of the layout of Douyin and Xiaohongshu and other enterprises in the field of cultural tourism and the grafting of more professional service capabilities, more interesting gameplay and communication activities are worthy of theme parks' attention and participation.
Trend two
It is more difficult to "impress" investors with new projects with large investment cycles and long cycles
For a long time, the construction of theme park projects has been regarded as an important starting point to stimulate tourism consumption and stimulate the surrounding economy, especially large-scale or extra-large theme park projects with brand influence, and the impact on the builder and the city is visible to the naked eye.
In 2023, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and other cities have brought out the news that China's third Disneyland will be built.
Among them, Hangzhou is the most enthusiastic about introducing large-scale theme parks. According to relevant reports, the 2023 Hangzhou ** work report mentioned that Hangzhou is expected to complete an investment of 35 billion yuan in cultural tourism projects this year, planning to build a world-class tourist park. The Hangzhou Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau also made it clear that it attaches great importance to the introduction of super theme parks, and the Hangzhou Investment Promotion Bureau has conducted a combing and research on the basic situation of the top 25 theme parks in the world, the top ten brands of amusement parks in CNPP2023, and the top ten theme park groups in the world, so as to provide a reference for promoting the project attraction of super theme parks.
However, such as Hangzhou, which has courage and strength, and can introduce large-scale theme parks, will not be too many cities in 2024, from the perspective of the overall environment, theme park projects that can easily reach billions or even tens of billions will become more and more rare in the future, whether it is ** or investors, for theme park projects with long construction cycles, high input costs, and uncertain return cycles, they will become more and more cautious and rational about the choice of theme park types, and pay more attention to the rate of return.
Trend three
Theme park cultural delivery attributes will be more valuable
Under the general trend of cultural and tourism integration, theme parks will highlight cultural attributes in addition to entertainment attributes, and carry the role and mission of spreading Chinese culture. At the policy level, the state encourages projects that promote the deep integration of culture and tourism, improve cultural taste and enrich the supply of tourism products, so as to meet consumers' demand for high-quality tourism experience. Theme parks will play a more important role in this regard.
From the perspective of the industry, China's theme parks have ushered in a great awakening of IP awareness. Recognizing that IP with vitality and market imagination is crucial for the sustainable operation of projects and diversified revenue, China has never lacked history and culture, but how to form culture into IP with commercial value, and how to promote and spread Chinese culture with the help of IP are also important issues faced by enterprises.
In particular, as the "real estate + amusement" development model fades year by year, creating a mature IP with sustainable vitality is crucial to expanding the revenue of theme parks and sustainable healthy operation. Taking China's local sci-fi film IP "The Wandering Earth" series as an example, after the release of the two films, the audience's call for building China's own "The Wandering Earth" theme park was very high.
The film's producer, China Film Co., Ltd., also said at its 2022 annual performance briefing that China Film is preparing to build a China Science Fiction Film Park, which will take a series of science fiction movie IPs as the core to create a tourism and entertainment park with fantasy and adventure, experience and interactivity. This is a positive sign that the combination of culture and tourism will continue to deepen in 2024, and more attempts at cooperation will emerge.
Trend four
New technologies, such as giant mechs, will continue to drive innovation in immersive experiences
The orientation to immersive experiences is a natural logical consequence of theme parks' various desires and efforts to improve the guest experience. Theme parks were created with the intention of providing visitors with novel experiences. In the past five years, the awakening of experience-oriented consciousness and the explosion of experience-creating technology, coupled with the demonstration effect of the international top theme parks landing in the local area, have also given birth to many forms of entertainment with immersive experiences in local theme parks.
In this wave, several innovative models of immersive experience have emerged, and have been unprecedentedly developed, one is the expansion of giant mecha parade equipment into a rapid manufacturing machine for immersive experience with a specific theme, the second is the steampunk special effects show represented by the "Awakening God of War" in Xiangyang OCT Fantasy Valley, and the third is the use of high-tech sound and light special effects as a means to create a theme park night tour product combining virtual and reality by using the stock space, which can also bring visitors an immersive experience.
Taking Dalian Xiongdong Street as an example, the attraction is located in the center of the city with a high local population density, in order to be able to make a difference from the general commercial complex, Xiongdong Street uses a large number of high-tech for cultural tourism projects to create a mechanical giant bear - Xiongbeibei, and combines the most popular metaverse, digital twin, virtual and real combination, national tide, cyberpunk and other elements, the block has been built into a theme amusement scene, and based on traffic thinking, a complete urban IP system has been established, integrating giant beast parade performances, food and entertainment, trendy art, The integration of scientific and technological research, trendy toys and night economy brings unprecedented experience to tourists.
In 2024, the innovative blessing of new technologies for the immersive experience projects of theme parks will continue to deepen, such as the "Thermal Tracking" project in the long queue of visitors in Shanghai Disneyland's "Zootopia", which officially opened on December 20, the industry's advanced trackless ride system, as well as mechanical animation dolls that highly restore animated movie characters, both in terms of appearance restoration and movement fluency, have been very significantly improved, and these new technologies will also be actively cited by local theme parks in the future. Innovative attempts to further enhance the visitor experience.
Trend Five
We will further promote the diversified development of regional economy and cultural consumption
The positive role of the construction of mega theme parks in regional economic development and even urban economic development will be more valued. Taking Beijing as an example, although it already has a world-renowned theme park brand, Universal Beijing Resort, from the perspective of driving the development of Tongzhou and even Beijing's cultural tourism industry, it is still actively promoting the introduction and implementation of other theme park projects, hoping to form a large-scale effect and become a "booster" to promote the development of the cultural tourism industry.
Recently, the relevant content of the Tongzhou ** work report mentioned that in 2024, the "Wanli" project of the sub-center cultural tourism zone will be completed, and the project will introduce outlets, resort towns, five-star hotels and other formats, and will build a fashionable and artistic international commercial and entertainment complex, and will actively promote the follow-up project and the second phase of the Universal Theme Park.
The much-talked-about Haichang Ocean Park, Urban Sports Center and other projects will also start construction in 2024, of which the Beijing Haichang Ocean Park project is expected to have a total investment of about 3.8 billion yuan and an annual passenger flow of more than 3 million. After completion, it will be the first international-level large-scale marine cultural tourism project of the sub-center, and it is also the only new large-scale marine theme park in Beijing after 2000.
In terms of effect, theme parks not only increase the cultural and entertainment experience of the region and city, but also help promote the diversified development of urban cultural consumption and regional economy. This will also become an effective means for first-tier and new first-tier cities to stimulate the development of urban cultural tourism industry in the future and effectively promote diversified cultural tourism consumption.
Trend Six
International big-name parks continue to enter, and local parks continue to be under pressure
In 2023, the pace of international theme parks entering China and signing new projects continues. Taking Hangzhou as an example, in 2023, it signed a contract to introduce the French Pudefu (Crazy Country) theme park, which is the world's first theatrical theme park and is very popular in France; Guangxi Yangshuo and CEIBS Rosrock reached a cooperation intention and signed an agreement on the Hans Christian Andersen International Resort project, planning to lay out five theme parks through site selection.
There will also be a number of international theme parks that have been built in 2024, such as Legoland Shanghai Resort, Sanya Hello Kitty Theme Park Resort, etc., counting other international theme park projects that are being promoted and built, the competitive environment of China's theme park market will become more and more fierce in the future. This also means that in the future, the expansion and operation of domestic theme park brands will also face greater competitive pressure.
From the perspective of market accommodation, China has a huge customer base and consumption capacity, although there are many completed and under construction projects, but with the increase of market demand, it is still difficult to reach saturation in the short term, and China's theme park market still has a broad space for development and prospects. In the future, the medium and long-term development potential is huge, and the next 10-15 years will still be the development period. At present, there is still a certain gap between domestic and local theme parks and international brands, and such a gap is not in technology, but in business philosophy and IP incubation with commercial value, and it is necessary to accelerate the search for innovative and differentiated development paths.
Trend Seven
There is still a gap in the recovery of the tourism market, and Europe and the United States will still lead the Asia-Pacific region
There is a time lag in the pace and pace of the reopening of the global travel market, and the degree of business recovery is also different. In 2022, the tourism business in Europe and the United States is already close to the pre-pandemic level, while the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, is much behind, and the same is true for the recovery of theme parks.
According to the "2022 Global Theme Parks and Museums Report" jointly released by AECOM and the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), 2022 was a successful year for Europe, the United States and the Middle East, while the Asia-Pacific region is still in a gradual recovery. In the case of water parks, the Americas had largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Water parks in Europe and the Middle East also saw 96% of 2019 levels of attendance, while some APAC regions have only recovered to about six to seven percent of pre-pandemic levels, even though they have shown a strong recovery.
Focusing on China, theme park operations will only begin to return to normal in 2023, and in a year when the pent-up travel demand of tourists is rapidly released, theme park companies around the world have also ushered in the best business recovery period, but such a recovery speed is also difficult to keep up with the performance of the European and American markets. According to the relevant statistics in the "2023 China Theme Park Competitiveness Evaluation Report", the revenue of 80 large and extra-large theme parks is about 1535.9 billion yuan, these monitoring statistics theme park samples account for about 97 percent of the number of large and extra-large theme parks in China56%, with a very high reference value.
By 2024, the release of Chinese tourists' travel demand will tend to be flat and rational, and the growth performance of the theme park business needs to remain optimistic and cautious to anticipate and judge.
Trend Eight
Enterprises with Chinese cultural elements have accelerated their "going out" and completed their overseas layout
A huge progress in China's theme park market in 2023 is that more and more theme park brands with Chinese elements have successfully gone overseas. Among them, the most concerned is the Haichang Ocean Park project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has signed a cooperation agreement between Haichang Ocean Park and Saudi Arabia Tourism Development**, which is a real overseas project of China's theme park brand.
In addition, the sci-fi space city "Mars Wars Theme Park" project participated by the Chinese enterprise Beijing Yixiang Huaran Technology Development *** has also reached a cooperation intention, which will be landed in Taif in Saudi Arabia, and a joint venture company will be established to promote the implementation of this project, which also means that the breadth and depth of participation of Chinese theme park brands going overseas will continue to deepen.
There will be more and more overseas theme park projects with Chinese cultural elements or Chinese enterprises participating, and in the future, domestic theme park companies will also have plans and actions to go overseas, and Chinese IP and Chinese brands will be a new force that cannot be ignored in the global theme park market.
Conclusion
2024 will be a crucial year for theme parks to grow their business, and it will also be a year for new projects to be unveiled and tested.
From the perspective of growth, although China's local theme park enterprises started late, but they have made very rapid progress, and new IPs with Chinese-style characteristic development will increasingly appear in the theme park market, and the good shaping of localized IP will also raise the ceiling for the development of domestic theme parks.
Coupled with the huge space that can be tapped in the consumer market, the "main battlefield" of the world's theme parks in the next few years will be in China, bearing the pressure of competition, while being able to quickly absorb and learn from international advanced experience, feed back the self-growth of local enterprises, and the value that can be generated by China's theme park industry will also be more worthy of attention and have greater imagination.