Beijing News (reporter Zheng Yijia) For the domestic theme park industry, September 20 this year is destined to be an extraordinary day. Universal Beijing Resort is about to officially join the battle for China's theme park market with a high-profile posture. After Shanghai Disneyland, the domestic theme park market once again ushered in the "bell ringer", and the local theme parks in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei stood in the forefront of market competition. The starting gun is about to pull the trigger, are the contestants ready?
Universal Beijing Resort debuted as the "c" bit
That's it! After a long wait, Universal Beijing Resort finally announced the official opening date of the park - September 20. At that time, Universal Studios Beijing Theme Park, Universal City Avenue Beijing, Universal City Hotel and NUO Resort will be put into operation, and domestic tourists can finally experience the magical world of Harry Potter and Minions Paradise at their "home"... On September 1, the trial operation of Universal Beijing Resort was also announced.
After Xiao Feng heard this news, the first time it spread throughout the large and small groups of relatives and friends. When it reached the Beijing News reporter, her excitement overflowed the mobile phone screen: "I waited from college until now, it finally opened!" At this time, it has been 6 years since the Universal Beijing Resort project was officially signed in September 2015.
Unfortunately, Xiao Feng is now in Shanghai, and traveling to and from Beijing is not as convenient as when he was studying in Beijing. But this was not a big trouble for her, and she searched for the ticket in a hurry.
People like Xiao Feng are not in the minority. After Universal Beijing Resort finalized the opening date, the number of related searches on major ota platforms soared: Ctrip's visits to Universal Beijing Resort soared by 830%, Qunar's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday beijing air ticket searches increased 11 times compared with last week, and Tongcheng travel-related searches rose by 400% month-on-month...
It is not difficult to predict that in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival National Day holiday, Universal Beijing Resort will become the "c-position" of the domestic tourism market. Under the light of Universal Beijing Resort, the theme park market in Beijing and even the entire Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will also usher in great changes.
Miao Lewen, president and general manager of Universal Beijing Resort, told the Beijing News: "Universal Beijing Resort creates a fully immersive experience, starting from all aspects of attractions, architecture and retail catering, so that visitors can immerse themselves in the storyline, which is where we are different from other theme parks. We believe universal beijing resort will be a good complement to China's theme park market." ”
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei theme park "facing the attack", how are you ready to do?
At present, domestic theme parks are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei three major regions, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has a theme park layout such as Happy Valley, Fangte and Haichang Ocean Park. After the opening of Universal Beijing Resort, the local theme parks in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei stood at the forefront of the market competition.
In the eyes of industry insiders, Universal Beijing Resort will inevitably affect the flow of visitors to other theme parks at the beginning of the opening of the park. Taking Happy Valley as an example, the data shows that Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016. In the same year, the number of tourists in Shanghai Happy Valley changed from the previous growth trend, decreasing by 50,000 to 2.92 million year-on-year. In 2017, the number of tourists in Shanghai Happy Valley rebounded to 3 million, but the ticket revenue remained at the level of 2016 at 340 million yuan.
In response, Beijing Happy Valley has reduced the price in the form of discounts to promote the annual pass. It is reported that the standard price of Beijing Happy Valley Annual Pass is 780 yuan / piece for adults, and the price of a single-day ticket for adults is 299 yuan / piece. In 2019, the annual pass of Beijing Happy Valley is preferentially priced at 598 yuan per ticket, but it is sold for 12 days. In 2020, according to the incomplete statistics of the Beijing News reporter, Beijing Happy Valley has launched at least three annual pass discounts, accumulating almost half a year of discounts.
This year, Beijing Happy Valley directly relaxed the preferential period for the purchase of annual passes to April 3 to October 8, and the price was also lower than the preferential price in 2019. According to the official WeChat Mini Program, there are currently three types of Beijing Happy Valley Annual Pass, namely the 499 yuan Changyou Card, the 399 yuan weekday peak card, and the 399 yuan Annual Pass user renewal card. The Renewal Card and Annual Pass users are limited to one year and can enjoy unlimited visits to Happy Valley in Beijing.
According to the Beijing Happy Valley WeChat Mini Program, the Changyou Card has now become the highest-selling item of the Beijing Happy Valley Annual Pass, with a total of 326,700 people buying it, while the other two items have a total sales volume of 45,800 pieces. Since the annual card sales of Beijing Happy Valley do not show a date, the time range of sales cannot be determined. At a price of 499 yuan, the cumulative revenue of Beijing Happy Valley's Changyou Card has reached 163 million yuan, while its total ticket revenue in 2017 was 322 million yuan.
Lin Huanjie, president of the China Theme Park Research Institute, said: "The opening of Universal Beijing Resort will have a 'honeymoon period' for local residents, which is bound to divert the passenger flow of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei theme parks to a certain extent, but after a long time, the passenger flow of other theme parks will still recover." Beijing Happy Valley avoids the influence of Universal Studios Beijing by selling annual passes, which is also an effective measure. ”
Some consumer feedback also confirms this statement. In the interview, some consumers told the Beijing News reporter that even if universal Beijing resort opens a park, it will not affect other theme parks. "Although the facilities at Universal Studios were great, we would still go to other theme parks. Many of my friends around me have the habit of buying an annual pass, because the price is right and you can play often. ”
In this context, the passenger flow of Universal Beijing Resort is bound to diverge from other theme parks in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. As a world-class destination, Universal Beijing Resort has a more diverse source of visitors, while other theme parks will continue to play a role in attracting local daily visitors.
Experts: Unenterprising players or "abandoned"
In the eyes of industry insiders, the opening of Universal Beijing Resort will further force the domestic theme park to become boutique. After the landing of Shanghai Disney Resort, the domestic theme park IP ushered in an unprecedented degree of discussion. After the opening of Universal Beijing Resort, local theme parks may face the proposition of "how to make their own things" more deeply.
Lin Huanjie said that after the opening of Universal Beijing Resort, in order to cope with competition, the surrounding themes and even theme parks across the country will further emphasize differentiation. This differentiation is not only in content, but also in operation.
"There was Shanghai Disneyland before, and now the domestic theme park industry has ushered in Universal Studios Beijing." Lin Huanjie said, "Universal Beijing Resort will bring a pulling effect to domestic theme parks, forcing theme parks in the surrounding areas to enhance content, IP and brand, which in turn will affect all upstream and downstream links, such as material supply, derivatives, management methods, etc." If the promotion does not keep up, it will definitely be abandoned. In addition, Lin Huanjie also suggested that Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing are obviously different, and there is no situation where tourists go to one of them and will not go to the other, and Shanghai Disneyland will not be affected by Universal Studios.
Similar cases may also be glimpsed from Universal Studios itself. Some analysts pointed out that Universal Studios Osaka did not operate smoothly at first, and since its opening, it has frequently lost money, not only because of the geographical location and errors that occurred during the operation of the park, but also because the performing arts projects and amusement projects could not wait for Tokyo Disneyland, and even some tourists believe that some of the two projects are similar.
After nearly 9 years of downturn, Universal Studios Osaka has not only expanded its focus to family tourists, but also made a lot of innovative adjustments to existing projects, coupled with the blessing of the world's second Harry Potter theme park, Universal Studios Osaka has finally completed a gorgeous transformation. In 2019, Universal Studios Osaka received 14.5 million visitors.
Chen Shaofeng, vice president of the Institute of Cultural Industries of Peking University, said that in the expression of culture and art, the role of science and technology is becoming more and more powerful, which will gradually make things that are fun, good-looking and easy to use more attractive, and then promote consumption. "Harry Potter saved Universal Studios Osaka, and once these IPs become things inside the theme park, they can be sold for a lifetime."
In this context, how to achieve such a "perpetual motion machine" becomes a problem. In Lin Huanjie's view, domestic theme parks need to take the national cultural route. "It is impossible for a local theme park to 'support the field' by introducing a foreign IP, but can only do Chinese culture, seek resonance by excavating Chinese culture, and ultimately achieve cultural output."
Chen Shaofeng suggested that Hollywood techniques can be borrowed to make Chinese cultural elements. "For example, we can learn from 'Kung Fu Panda', and Universal Studios Beijing also has related areas. The content of "Kung Fu Panda" is very Chinese, and it is indeed popular with Chinese audiences. Inheritance and innovation can be based on foreign experience, and then new integration with traditional culture, through the combination of Chinese and Western innovation. ”
Beijing News reporter Zheng Yijia
Edited by Li Zheng Proofreader Chen Diyan
Photo by Guo Yanbing, a reporter from the Beijing News