China’s top theme parks Universal Studios, Legoland, Shanghai Disney still outliers in nation’s drive for world-class tourism sector

China’s 14th five-year plan identified tourism’s potential to stimulate the domestic economy, but the sector lacks a variety of offerings for travellers

Theme parks from big global names like Universal Studios and Legoland offer a model for development of more high-end tourism products, analysts say

Reading Time:3 minutes

Visitors outside Universal Studios n Beijing. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 12:15pm, 2 Oct 2021Updated: 10:51pm, 2 Oct 2021

As Beijing’s Universal Studios opened to sell-out crowds last week, another global theme park franchise was preparing to make its China debut.

Following in the footsteps of Universal and Shanghai Disney Resort, Legoland – in the southeastern tech hub of Shenzhen – is the latest amusement park offering for Chinese domestic tourists.

Construction of the 580,000 square metre (6.2 million sq ft) park, the biggest of China’s four Legoland, began in late August on the scenic Dapeng Peninsula on the eastern edge of Shenzhen.

The resort, which has a price tag of more than US$1 billion, is expected to be completed in 2024 and lure more than 2 million tourists in the first year and 20 million yuan in tax revenue over the first five, according to a government report. More than 3000 jobs will be created by the development.

“17 million people live in Shenzhen, but they don’t have many entertainment options other than a Happy Valley and a Window of the World, which were both built decades ago,” Zhou Rongqiang, a local driver, excitedly told the South China Morning Post.