Themed success

For example, it might need more indoor areas for people during such conditions.

Chen Hongquan, manager of Lotte World who is responsible for the China theme park unit, said the Lotte World in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, is expected to open in 2016, a complex that will include the theme park, hotels and shopping centers.

Another Lotte park for children is coming up in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Both parks are designed for family trips, with facilities and amusement products tailored for family members of all ages with local Chinese themes.

Business as usual for theme parks

Shanghai Disneyland to feature first Pirates-themed land

"The main feature of Lotte World is that it offers one-stop entertainment for all visitors," said Chen. Due to the long winter in Shenyang, much of the complex will be indoors, he said.

The growing number of theme park brands coming up in China has led to intense competition for footfalls and often pain for local operators.

Yoshii, however, said that the situation is not so bad and there are several opportunities for theme parks that can offer different experiences and themes. Local operators can add more spice to the market by providing niche services and lower prices, he added.

He cites the example of Ocean Park in Hong Kong, which has been threatened by the Hong Kong Disney resort in recent years.

"Ocean Park's aggressive investment in expanding and upgrading services along with more competitive ticket prices has helped increase footfalls."

A positive outcome of the competition would be the raising of the bar for quality and services at the theme parks, Yoshii said.

Wei Xiaoan, a researcher of Tourism Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "At present, domestic theme parks are mainly located in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Beijing, of which 300 have an initial investment of 50 million yuan ($8.2 million) each. But only 10 percent of them are making profits."

Yoshii says the opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort and the Universal Studio in Beijing would put pressure on OCT Group, which has facilities in both cities.

"OCT will have to pay more attention to the competition and on quality of services, as people will have lots of expectations after visiting Shanghai Disney and Beijing Universal Studio," he says.

Speaking on the potential pitfalls for local theme park projects, Yoshii says those with bad quality, low investment and less interesting and engaging stories would inevitably bite the dust.

"Local projects with lower－than-expected services and programs will find it difficult to get repeat customers."

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