China's theme parks on the ride of their lives

An entertainer dressed in the Hello Kitty costume greets visitors at the Hello Kitty theme park in Anji county, Huzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, Jan 1, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Among those looking for a piece of the action in China's amusement industry are international theme park companies.

The $5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort is due to open next year, followed by the $2.4 billion DreamWorks Dream Center in Shanghai in 2017 and the $3.3 billion Universal Studios Beijing around 2019.

Owners of popular foreign cartoon characters such as the Smurfs, Hello Kitty and Angry Birds have also opened theme parks in China.

"Culture from abroad is attractive to Chinese theme park visitors," says Chen Shaohui, managing director of Ipsos in China, the US-based global market research company. China is the undisputed star of the world theme park industry, he says.

"The market here is far from saturated, and for newcomers, whether they are local or from overseas, their investments put them in the box seat to gain a strong foothold as things become more competitive," Chen says.

The newly opened theme parks are concentrated in two clusters, he says, in the northeast and in the southeast. Beijing and Tianjin are at the heart of developments in the northeast, while the Pearl River Delta region and Hainan province are the gravitational points in the southeast.

Last year the central government gave the green light to the Universal Studios movie theme park in Beijing, the first of its kind in China. It will initially be built on 120 hectares and may eventually expand to 400 hectares.

"China's fast-growing economy, as well as Beijing's huge population and its attraction for thousands of visitors is the major reason why we are building the park here," says Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks and Resorts.

The complex will be in Tongzhou, a suburb in eastern Beijing. It will blend China's rich cultural heritage with Universal Parks and Resorts' brand of family entertainment, Williams says.

Duan Qiang, chairman of Beijing Tourism Group and BSH Investment, says Universal Beijing will showcase blockbuster movie themes and present entertaining family shows.

Hu Yuanyuan contributed to this story.