Wanda opens second cultural tourism complex in Hefei

Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin (left) and local officials of East China's Anhui province jointly declared the opening of the 24-billion-yuan Hefei Wanda Cultural Tourism City on Saturday. Wang said Wanda will invest another 10 billion yuan for the second phase of the Hefei project in the coming two to three years, while planning for the third phase will also follow. [Photo by Zhu Lixin/China Daily]

China's Wanda Group opened its second cultural tourism complex in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, on Saturday.

The Hefei Wanda Cultural Tourism City has seen a total investment of 24 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) for phase one.

Billionaire Wan Jianlin, chairman of Wanda, declared at the opening ceremony that the group will invest another 10 billion yuan for the second phase of the Hefei project in the coming two to three years.

"Construction of the second phase will break ground in six months, while planning for the third phase will also follow", said Wang.

Besides theme park facilities, the first phase opened on Saturday includes a hotel complex, a movie center and a shopping mall.

The hotels, which stretch along a man-made lake, include a six-star hotel, a five-star hotel, and five other ones. The hotels, which together provide more than 3,500 rooms, symbolizes Wanda's ambitions to become a tourist attraction.

The Hefei project aims to attract about 100,000 tourists each day on average, while approximately 500,000 people have flocked to the site on the first day, according to Wanda.

The Hefei-based Wanda City is about 500 kilometers west of the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort. Previously, Wanda has opened a 20-billion-yuan theme park in Nanchang, capital of the neighboring Jiangxi province.

There are five others already under construction in Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Guangzhou in Guangdong, Wuxi in Jiangsu, Chengdu in Sichuan and Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.