Just past the eleventh long holiday, Shanghai's major attractions are crowded. Disney, Happy Valley and other amusement-based theme parks, each project in front of the queue, such as Shanghai Happy Valley received nearly 70% year-on-year increase in tourists; Disney single-day passenger flow of more than 50,000, thousands of yuan a night of the park hotel was snapped up; even Shanghai Grand View Park, such a decades-old theme park, also seems to usher in a new spring - due to the remote location, the daily passenger flow of only 200 to 300 people in Shanghai DaguanYuan, the average daily visitors during the long holiday more than 3,000 people, There are even three new parking lots that need to be added temporarily to barely load.
The explosive growth of domestic tourism demand brought about by the epidemic has undoubtedly brought vitality and hope to many scenic spots, but at the same time, it has exposed problems such as insufficient content innovation and insufficient cultural IP mining. According to statistics, there are more than 10 large-scale theme parks in the Yangtze River Delta region, and there are more than 2,000 theme parks of all sizes in the country, only 10% of which are profitable, and the competition is fierce, how to attract tourists to "secondary consumption" and multiple consumption, it is worth exploring.
Behind The leading theme park strongman Hengqiang in the industry such as Disney and Happy Valley, what are the places worth learning from? A large number of theme parks originally prepared for the purpose of enriching the lives and entertainment of the people, with a state-owned background, how to break the current difficult deadlock and walk out of a new road of reform and innovation? How to continue the industry life cycle of theme parks and create a Chinese-style theme park that is comparable to the "evergreen tree" in the industry such as Disneyland? It's worth paying attention to and thinking about.
In the wave of large-scale development, many theme parks are in a downturn
During the National Day period, the Jinjiang Paradise Night Market is less than 5 o'clock every day, and it is already crowded. Many stalls have just been set up and have been "surrounded" by tourists who come to visit, such as seafood fried, aerial noodle steak and other "net red" food stalls are lined up behind a long line. After eating snacks at the night market, most tourists will choose to buy another Ticket to Jinjiang Amusement Park and walk around the park.
Playgrounds like Jinjiang Amusement Park are typical theme parks. As a kind of amusement park, the theme park refers to a series of large-scale modern leisure and entertainment places with special environment and atmosphere through artificially built attractions around the established theme, using technology, culture and other expression methods around the established theme.
The number of theme parks in China has increased from only a few in the 1980s to today. Among them, the Yangtze River Delta, one of the most economically developed areas in China, has become the most prosperous area for theme parks in China. At present, there are no less than ten large-scale theme parks in the Yangtze River Delta region, including Changzhou Dinosaur Park, Shanghai Happy Valley, Huaqiang Fantawild, Songcheng Performing Arts, Haichang Ocean Park, etc. In addition, a number of new projects are also "on the way", such as Shanghai Lingang's Ocean World, Ice and Snow World, etc. are about to open, and the Journey to the West theme park in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, is under construction...
In fact, this is not the first round of theme park investment boom. As early as the 1990s, theme parks became the new darling of China's tourism market. Take the Shanghai area in the mid-1990s as an example: in 1996, a number of "Universal Parks" with 1:1 simulations of the wonders of the world were opened next to Nanxiang Ancient Town; the "American Dreamland", known as Mini Disney, was completed in Huangdu Town, a suburb of Shanghai; the following year, the "Froe bell amusement park" larger than Jinjiang Park was launched at the junction of Jiangsu and Shanghai. With the influx of hot money, many theme parks with good original ideas and new types of amusement equipment, the park is full of tourists when it opens, but after a burst of excitement, it gradually goes downhill. Mainstream research believes that there are currently more than 2,000 theme parks in the country, large and small, and only 10% of them are profitable. What is the reason behind this?
Many people in the industry attribute it to the short life cycle of the industry: with the aging of facilities and equipment, IP, etc., maintenance costs are increasing year by year, and in the face of fierce competition in the industry, they cannot make ends meet. Such examples are indeed more common, and even well-known theme parks in Shanghai such as Shanghai Grand View Garden and Jinjiang Amusement Park have fallen into a downturn.
Taking Jinjiang Amusement Park, which was officially opened in February 1985 as an example, as the first amusement park in China after the reform and opening up, it is the most beautiful memory in the hearts of a generation of Shanghainese. In 1995, the state implemented a weekly double rest system, and the first phase of Superimposed Metro Line 1 was completed and opened, and Jinjiang Amusement Park set an amazing performance of receiving more than 2.3 million tourists a year.
However, in the face of the "new forces" emerging from the wave of domestic theme park development around 1996, Jinjiang Amusement Park seemed to be more and more inadequate. First of all, its innate conditions are insufficient - the area is only 170 acres, and there is no room for follow-up equipment renewal and expansion; secondly, the background of state-owned enterprises brings help at the same time, but also shackles its transformation in terms of institutional mechanisms... Before 2002, Jinjiang Amusement Park experienced consecutive years of losses, and a series of management problems such as tight funds and redundant personnel appeared. Although Jin jiang amusement park can turn losses into profits for a while as market demand increases, the decline in competitiveness and influence is an indisputable fact.
How to break the shackles of institutional mechanisms and sprout new shoots from old trees
Any product has a life cycle, and theme parks are no exception. However, exploring how to continue the life cycle of theme parks and create theme parks that can compete with evergreen trees in the industry such as Disneyland should be a more worthy of consideration in the new round of theme park investment boom. In addition, many large-scale domestic theme parks are state-owned backgrounds, and how to break the shackles of institutional mechanisms and embark on a new path of reform and innovation is also worth exploring.
Jinjiang Amusement Park is located in the central city of Shanghai, and is backed by jin jiang group, the largest comprehensive tourism enterprise group in china, and has unique advantages in catering. In the market competition, if only the scale and equipment are compared, Jinjiang Park will be limited everywhere, and how to use its strengths and avoid its weaknesses is a problem that the management has been thinking about for many years.
"In order to open up a new path for development, in 2014, with the support of Jin Jiang Group, we began to implement a platform strategy and introduce projects such as Taiwan's Shilin Night Market." Zhu Weimin, assistant general manager of Jinjiang Park, said that Jinjiang Park is close to the subway station, only 3 kilometers away from Xujiahui, surrounded by mostly residential areas, and has a unique geographical advantage. So far, Jinjiang Night Market has been operating for 6 years, from the initial introduction of Taiwan's "Shilin Night Market", to the gradual introduction of Tainan Garden Night Market, Xi'an Night Market, Chengdu "Kuanzhai Alley" Night Market brand, Shanghai local night market snacks... The platform is getting bigger and bigger, the fame is getting louder and louder, and there are more and more night market brands from all over the country who come to talk about cooperation.
In recent years, the night market has become a breakthrough point for the old trees in Jinjiang Paradise to draw new shoots, and every day citizens flock to it. The amusement park itself and the night market complement each other, drain each other, form a virtuous circle, and embark on a new path of transformation of the old theme park for the track.
This new road of "lane change overtaking" was not easy to break at first. When Jinjiang Amusement Park first planned the night market, it was difficult to break through the bottleneck of construction approval. Such a rigid condition is actually no less than the "red line" such as arable land and water resources protection.
"After much discussion, we decided to replace the fixed buildings usually needed by night markets with temporary stall tents in the form of containers. But at the same time, because there is no fixed address, night market stall owners cannot obtain a business license. Therefore, we communicated and coordinated with many parties, and finally, with the support of the government, Jinjiang Night Market broke through the implementation of the small vendor certificate (temporary booth certificate) in the first instance of the annual trial instead of the business license. Zhu Weimin said.
As a veteran state-owned enterprise, Jinjiang Paradise has taken a different path and jumped out of the shackles of the original institutional mechanism, which can be described as a "new stove". But there are also theme parks that are similar to Jinjiang Amusement Park, but are still exploring the way out - Shanghai Grand View Garden.
Daguanyuan was once a public institution directly managed by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Gardens and Forestry, and is also one of the six major parks in Shanghai. Also affected by the wave of theme park development, Daguanyuan was built in the 1980s and became brilliant for more than ten years, after which it became lonely. By 2004, in order to save Daguanyuan, which had already experienced a business crisis at that time, the Shanghai Municipal Landscaping Bureau handed over its management rights to the Qingpu District Government for enterprise management, and needed to bear the maintenance costs itself.
Public institutions became state-owned enterprises, and for a time activated the lifeless Grand View Garden. More than a dozen listed companies threw olive branches to try to get the right to operate daguanyuan, but in the end they did not negotiate. The reason why the market stops at investment is that on the one hand, it sees the shortcomings of the system that cannot be lost at the end of the Grand View Garden. Before the construction of Shanghai Grand View Garden, a large amount of land in Yangshe Village was requisitioned, and since then, more than 1,000 local villagers with junior high school education or below have been converted into land requisitioners and assigned to the establishment of public institutions. In addition, the Daguanyuan Scenic Area is constrained by the red line of the surrounding water resources protection and the red line of agricultural land, and only more than 300 acres can be developed and utilized, and it is unlikely to build tourism facilities such as homestays and hotels.
"What about outsourcing instead of increasing investment?" Some market players also proposed that they hope that daguanyuan can learn from scenic spots such as Wuzhen in Zhejiang and Wuyishan in Fujian, and entrust them to the market for operation. However, this has also raised concerns: who is responsible for the preservation and protection of the ancient trees and many mahogany collections in the Grand View Garden? Will it cause the loss of state-owned assets? At that time, the management of Daguanyuan repeatedly discussed, and finally compromised on possible risks.
In fact, many state-owned theme parks in China have gradually become bigger and stronger through the "trusteeship model", and in turn, they have promoted the continuous maturity of state-owned cultural tourism resources managed by the market. For example, after CYTS managed to build the classic case of Wuzhen, the suburbs of Beijing copied the Wuzhen model and built Gubei Water Town. The successful operation of the two contributed most of the profits to the company, and then CYTS took over the Tangshan International Tourism Island.
In addition, OCT, Hong Kong China Travel Service, China Hui Travel, etc. have also begun to explore "capital management" and try to share risks and benefits with scenic spots. For example, OCT has successively taken over panshan scenic spots, Dali ancient city, Kunshan mountain and other scenic spots. "This kind of scenic spot owner or owner of the operation right entrusts all the management authority of the scenic spot to the market, and mainly plays the role of assistance and supervision, especially suitable for the scenic spot with poor operation, chaotic management, and poor profitability but better development prospects." An industry insider in the tourism industry told reporters.
Tourist-oriented, cultivate internal skills to be the "evergreen tree" in the industry
Industry experts believe that the competition situation in the domestic theme park industry is grim and the life cycle is short, in addition to external reasons such as aging equipment, it is more internal reasons. For example, Jiangsu Froebel Park, covering an area of 1,800 acres and investing 1 billion US dollars, but only one year of operation, the per capita daily number of tourists is less than 150, the profit is deteriorating, and finally failed.
At the recent Zibo Cultural Tourism Development Conference, Lin Huanjie, president of the China Theme Park Research Institute, said that many theme park development lacks scientific project planning and demonstration, homogenization competition is fierce, brand building is insufficient, and there is a lack of diversified development; ticket revenue is still the main profit point, and there is a lack of content that attracts tourists to consume twice. "If the theme park wants to become bigger and stronger, the guest-oriented service is fundamental."
Take Shanghai Happy Valley as an example. Since the official opening of Shanghai Disneyland in June 2016, Shanghai Happy Valley has been looked down upon by the outside world. However, in the sound of "singing down", Shanghai Happy Valley quietly set a new high in revenue and reception. In July and August 2016, Shanghai Happy Valley received 1.25 million tourists, an increase of 10% year-on-year, achieving a 13% increase in operating income, and the number of receptions and operating income reached the highest record since its opening.
In the following years, under the still playful eyes of the outside world, Shanghai Happy Valley continued to maintain a double-digit revenue growth, with revenue in 2019 increasing by 18% year-on-year, responding to the outside world's doubts with eye-catching performance, and gradually "decoupling" from Disney in the field of public opinion.
Lin Xingda, director of the marketing department of Shanghai Happy Valley, said frankly that in the context of the increasingly fierce competition in theme parks, it is still necessary to do their own thing, maintain "constant newness", and let tourists always have a good sense of experience, which is the magic weapon for the operation of theme parks. "With the support of OCT Group, maya opened in 2013, Shanghai Happy Valley launched the second phase in 2014, and built a new Hurricane Bay in 2015 to achieve night club opening... We have new programs every year for visitors to play often. ”
To be an "evergreen tree" in the industry, the veteran theme park is inevitably homogeneous competition, and it is possible to be divided into attention and passenger flow by the new generation of theme parks with more advanced equipment and innovative IP updates at any time. Therefore, OCT Group has been updating the project in a big way to ensure that it is always new: in 2016, the large-scale cross-media real-life water show project invested 200 million yuan, the Maya Beach Water Park expanded by more than 30,000 square meters, and more than 100 new parent-child water play facilities were added; in 2018, the Happy Valley Jiatu Hotel in Shanghai opened; in 2019, the new Shanghai Beach Theme Area was opened, and the project invested 100 million yuan...
In addition, the clear positioning, with its own "customer portrait", can accurately advertise to consumers, is another magic weapon for Shanghai Happy Valley to win.
"For example, at the Halloween night event, we will review it through a third-party media analysis company to form a user portrait and achieve accurate delivery of information." Lin Xingda said.
How to make good use of cultural IP and practice the skill of "storytelling"
According to industry analysts, there are two main ways to extend the life cycle of theme parks, one is to Shenzhen Happy Valley as a representative, in a longer period of time, phased development, rolling development, through the "unfinished Happy Valley" to maintain the new product order, thereby extending the life cycle. The other is represented by Disney and Universal Studios, each theme park has a unique idea, and in a relatively short period of time, one-time or phased construction in place, forming a large enough scale and mature, rich product system, to maintain attractiveness and competitiveness.
When it comes to Disney and Universal Studios, we have to mention the core IP conversion problem. Shanghai Disneyland is almost full of tourists every day, especially during the National Day, what makes consumers flock to it? It's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Frozen... Behind each excellent IP is Disney's ability to "tell stories".
The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1926, is now 94 years old. In 1937, Disney launched the first feature-length animated film in film history, Snow White, which opened the way for Disney to create and cultivate a large number of high-quality classic IP through the film industry. In an era where traffic is king, high-quality IP means sticky traffic. Disney not only has many top IP resources, but also builds its own business empire around these IP, which is also the core competitiveness of Disney.
Is there a good cultural IP in China? Nature is. A series of tomes such as "Journey to the West" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" are treasures, and there is no shortage of examples in China that use such classic IP to create theme parks. For example, Shanghai Grand View Garden borrowed the east wind of the 87th edition of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" TV series, so that countless Shanghainese, and even surrounding urban and rural residents, almost broke through the threshold of Shanghai Grand View Garden. In the mid-1990s, Shanghai Grand View Garden received nearly 10 million visitors from more than 50 countries and regions. But now, more than 30 years later, Shanghai Grand View Garden is becoming increasingly lonely. For another example, in the boom of theme park construction in the last century, hundreds of large and small Journey to the West palaces appeared across the country, but in the end, most of them ended hastily, mainly because of the lack of creative thinking, the serious phenomenon of copycats and shoddy manufacturing, and the lack of uniqueness and brand value.
87 edition of the Dream of the Red Chamber stills file photo
Lin Huanjie said that in the development of theme parks, the process of conversion from IP to projects is extremely long. For example, Pu Songlin's Liaozhai Zhiyi is naturally a good IP, but how to transform it into an experience project for tourists should be analyzed and studied according to the core of Liaozhai's story. "Culture is the soul of theme parks, and the development of theme parks should pay more attention to the injection of cultural elements and the support of scientific and technological platforms."
For how to learn from Disney and use its own IP, Zhuo Zhizhong, chief designer of the American Excellence Design Group, believes that the secret of Disney's long-term prosperity is that there will always be a good story. In all of Disney's film and television productions, high technology is only used as a tool to assist in "storytelling", not to dominate. Disney theme parks emphasize "user experience of the storyline" rather than the highest, largest, fastest, most expensive device technology. This is worth pondering in domestic theme parks.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Tang Ye Text Editor: Li Chengdong
Source: Author: Li Chengdong Du Chenwei