At present, Qingdao's theme parks have problems such as outdated facilities and IP projects that have not been updated for a long time, and Qingdao's local theme parks with "parent-child travel" as the main focus also lack influence and competitiveness.
Text | Ma Ming emblem
Edit | Jin Wenfeng
When the residual temperature of the "Eleventh" Golden Week brought to Qingdao's tourism boom has not yet dissipated, a news related to the change of ownership of Qingdao theme parks has made people focus on Qingdao's theme parks again.
On October 18, Haichang Ocean Park Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Haichang Ocean Park"), a Hong Kong-listed company, announced that 100% of its theme park projects in Wuhan, Chengdu, Tianjin and Qingdao and 66% of its equity in Zhengzhou theme park projects have been transferred, and the transaction object is Mpk partners ("mbkp"), a leading private equity fund in Asia.
As one of the industries most affected by the epidemic, the development of the cultural tourism industry in the past two years can be described as ups and downs, and the theme park has also been severely challenged. Affected by the epidemic, people's production and lifestyle have changed, which has also had an impact on the cultural tourism industry, especially when Universal Studios Beijing, a world-class theme park, was settled and opened, which accelerated the washing of the theme park industry.
As a city with rich tourism resources, Qingdao is also constantly introducing and building theme parks. In addition to the well-known Qingdao Fantawild Fantasy Kingdom, Qingdao has also introduced projects such as Qingdao Andersen Fairy Tale Park, Sunac Legoland, and Oriental Eden in recent years. Although the introduction of theme parks can stimulate Qingdao to tap new revenue growth points in the "festival economy" and explore new models of "night economy" development, compared with other first-tier cities, Qingdao's theme parks still have problems such as outdated facilities and long-term unsupported IP projects, which has opened up the gap between Qingdao theme parks and first-tier cities, and Qingdao's local theme parks with "parent-child travel" as the main theme park also lack influence and competitiveness.
Introduce while "selling"
Qingdao Haichang Polar Ocean Park, which has been operating in Qingdao for 15 years, is a benchmark project for Tourism in Shandong Province carefully built by Qingdao, and one of the highlights used by Qingdao Cultural Tourism to attract tourists.
It is reported that during this year's "Eleventh" Golden Week, Qingdao Haichang Polar Ocean Park received 69,200 tourists, an increase of 8.06% year-on-year, and operating income of 13.0046 million yuan, down 1.79% year-on-year.
The decline in revenue of Qingdao Haichang Polar Ocean Park is only the epitome and status quo of many theme parks under Haichang Ocean Park. It is reported that since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020, Haichang Ocean Park has suffered high debt and continuously increasing losses. The sale of the theme park in Haichang Ocean Park can not only be used to repay part of the debt, reduce the overall debt ratio, and maintain the operation of the remaining business, but also make Haichang Ocean Park change from the original theme park developer to the manager of the theme park.
However, Qingdao Haichang Polar Ocean Park has changed hands, which is a good opportunity for Qingdao. Although mbkp has entered the market of Chinese theme parks, Qingdao can still continue the operation mode of Haichang Ocean Park and maintain its operating standards, while Qingdao can also obtain more international capital and resources.
Although the introduction of theme parks will cost a lot of money, it has played a huge role in Qingdao's economic drive. At present, the operating model of some theme parks in China adopts "IP + integrated business". Through cooperation with film and television IP, theme parks can not only enrich the IP image, but also allow theme parks to gain traffic attention. Qingdao Fantawild Fantasy Kingdom took the protagonist IP image in "Bear Haunting" as the theme, created a special theme, and applied the "Bear Haunting" IP to the theme fireworks show. In addition, theme parks such as Fangte and Chimelong also make full use of the characteristics of Festivals such as Halloween and Valentine's Day, design and integrate Chinese elements to create a series of activities, and tap new revenue growth points in the "festival economy". Through lighting design and night performing arts activities such as light shows, water shows, and fireworks shows, the theme park breaks through the time limit and explores the development mode of "night economy".
In order to attract more tourists, at present, Qingdao has introduced a large number of theme park projects. Qingdao Andersen Fairy Tale Park, which has landed in Pingdu and has begun to operate, is the first andbiz Andersen fairy tale fully immersive theme park in the north built around Andersen's classic literary works as the core content, and at the same time integrates the classic IP images such as Thumbelina and Ugly Duckling in Andersen's fairy tales, and combines advanced technology to launch interactive experiences and performances. Sunac's Legoland also successfully signed a contract with Jimo this year, the park will build Lego factories, brick worlds, Lego Castle and other theme core areas, to create a world of bricks, for Lego lovers is an excellent place.
The Qingdao Oriental Eden Garden, which will be completed by the end of 2022 and with the theme of "water" and integrated into the characteristics of Qingdao City, has a creative and beautiful natural plant landscape. The interactive experience of edutainment, close to various scenes of nature, and the "water power" of perceiving life will attract tourists from all over the country to come here for leisure and sightseeing and explore the unknown after completion, forming a new model of exploring "cultural tourism + eco-tourism", and will also bring vitality and vitality to Qingdao High-tech Zone.
Fiery and assimilated
Qingdao Fantawild Dream Kingdom, Sunac Water World, Qingdao Wild Animal Forest Park, Qingdao Oriental Film City Sunac Park and other theme parks are currently operating in Qingdao for many years and have matured, for foreign tourists, these theme parks are attractive enough. But for local visitors, Qingdao's theme parks have remained unchanged for years, reducing their appeal to them.
"Qingdao's theme park currently has problems such as outdated facilities and theme IP amusement projects that have not been updated for a long time." Ms. Zhou, a tour guide, said, "These problems will not only reduce the attractiveness of local tourists, but also bring them the impression of poor experience for foreign tourists, which is why people have always believed that Qingdao's theme parks are not as good as first-tier cities." ”
Although the theme parks introduced by Qingdao are somewhat unsatisfactory, Qingdao's local theme parks with "parent-child travel" as the main theme are constantly emerging.
In recent years, family-friendly travel has become a new trend in the tourism market. According to the data released by China Research Network, according to the forecast, the parent-child travel market will reach a scale of 97.2 billion yuan in 2021.
According to Ctrip data, the average number of peers in summer parent-child travel in 2021 reached 3.4, of which "post-80s" parents and "post-10s" children are the main force of parent-child travel, accounting for more than 60% of parent-child travel tourists; among the "1 big with 1 small" parent-child travel group, the proportion of mothers traveling with babies exceeds 50%. In addition, the parent-child travel group with a strong willingness to travel is not to be outdone in terms of spending money, and the total booking amount of summer parent-child travel orders increased by 463% compared with the same period in 2020, and the average spending amount increased by 84% compared with the same period in 2020.
Affected by the epidemic, inter-provincial travel has been restricted. During the National Day in 2021, due to the effectiveness of epidemic prevention and control measures, the impact of the epidemic has gradually weakened, but due to factors such as the requirement of nucleic acid testing for inter-provincial travel by schools, it is still mainly intra-provincial tourism. Therefore, the local parent-child paradise with close distance, affordable price and more play items has become the first choice for many parents to "walk their babies". "The main body of visitors targeted at the parent-child park is different from the theme park." Wang Shan, owner of Qingdao Four Seasons Happy Farm, said, "Most of the parent-child families who choose to come to the parent-child park are local Qingdao or cities around Qingdao. And now the family trip will also be accompanied by the elderly, and the travel distance is too far to be appropriate. ”
Qiu Aifeng, general manager of Qingdao Tongsheng International Travel Service, said that during the National Day, scenic spots such as Cuilin Yunzhuang in Chengyang District, Woolou Huahai Wetland, Laoshan Academy in Laoshan District can see the scene of family group travel, and most of Qingdao's local parent-child parks are mainly based on agricultural product picking, science popularization and ecological parks, which can be entertained and educational, so in this year's tourism market, family parent-child one-day or two-day tours are very popular.
For most parents, there is also an indispensable reason to choose to go to the parent-child paradise to "walk the baby". Ms. Lin, who often takes children to the parent-child park to play, said that most of the facilities of the parent-child park are now "no electricity", and the non-electric amusement facilities can reduce the age and height restrictions used by children, reduce the harm to children, and let the children play freely, "The most important thing is that children can play freely, and there is no need to pay more tickets for other projects like other theme parks." ”
"But Qingdao's parent-child park has not yet formed a brand and a complete system." Talking about the current situation of the development of Qingdao's parent-child park, Wang Shan also said, "Although most of the parent-child parks still have their own characteristics, some amusement facilities are basically the same, and the assimilation of parent-child parks will not only weaken the competitiveness of Qingdao's local parent-child parks, but also be detrimental to the external promotion of Qingdao's cultural tourism brand." ”
Content source: Finance Qilu WeChat public account Caijing magazine client regional channel