The View | Chinese developer heavyweights seem blinkered into thinking building theme parks is simply a licence to print money
The current obsession with creating mega sites across the country lacks foundation, and has more to do with ‘me-too-ism’ than business common sense
Two terrible afflictions are known to affect businesses, particularly those in the mainland. The first is “me-too-itis” (want a slice of the action too) the second can be described as mega-ism.
Reports this week suggest that the China Evergrande Group appears to be suffering from both afflictions as it rolls out ambitious plans to invest in China’s theme park burgeoning business.
Evergrande has come a little late in the day but it wants to start with a headline grabbing 50 billion Yuan investment in something called Children’s World, to be built in Hunan, and there are plans for a string of other child-themed parks elsewhere.
Evergrande is joining a clutch of other companies, led by the Wanda group who collectively have some 65 similar projects on the drawing board or under construction, but who find themselves very much in the shadow of the new Disney park in Shanghai.
It is estimated that Chinese parks will be world leaders by 2020 with more than 330 million visitors and revenues of some of US$12 billion, according to the World Travel Market Global Trend Report.
Not all theme park operators are equal and so home-grown market entrants will not just be competing against Disney, the world’s most successful theme park operator, but also Universal and Six Flags. What is notable about the mainland companies vying for a slice of the action is that, like Evergrande, they tend to be conglomerates that only recently and collectively have discovered the wonders of these parks.