Theme parks enjoy bright prospects as sector matures

The Happy Valley theme park in Hubei province's capital, Wuhan, is crowded with visitors during the Lantern Festival on Feb 26.

China's theme-park market remains vigorous as it benefits from increasing disposable incomes among the growing middle-income earners and demand for themed entertainment, says a recent report by infrastructure-consultancy company AECOM.

The country saw more than 30 new theme-park projects over the past three years-the most in the world, the report says.

Most are in so-called emerging first-tier cities, such as Jiangsu province's capital, Nanjing, and Henan province's capital, Zhengzhou.

Although COVID-19 has temporarily delayed new projects' openings, the continued planning and construction of theme parks remains a long-term and realizable ambition for China, the report says.

Amid the domestic tourism market's gradual recovery, 12 new projects opened in the second half of 2020, marking a general increase in quality, it says.

Overseas Chinese Town received 4.7 million visits during the recent Spring Festival holiday from Feb 11 to 17.

Its Happy Valley theme park in Hubei province's capital, Wuhan, which was the city hit hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak, was particularly popular.

OCT rolled out more than 400 themed events in June and October 2020, and received more than 40 million visits in the interim, the company says.

And OCT has launched new programs in Nanjing and Shandong province's capital, Jinan, to offer more immersive experiences.