Legoland will settle in Beijing, can it beat Universal Studios?

Following Universal Studios, Beijing welcomes the news that an international brand theme park has settled down.

A few days ago, the Notice of Beijing Key Projects in 2022 published on the website of Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission showed that legoland was listed as a new project of "Cultural Tourism Industry" and the construction address was Changyang Town, Fangshan District. Including legoland, theme hotels, commercial streets and parking lots, with a total construction scale of about 304,000 square meters.

This is the fourth legoland of British Merlin Entertainment Group in China after Sichuan, Shenzhen and Shanghai.

Supplement to the theme park market

Legoland, together with Disney and Universal Studios, is known as the "Three World Theme Parks" brand. After the latter two landed in China, they attracted a lot of attention as soon as they opened the park.

In contrast, legoland's layout in China did not seize the time advantage. It's been 15 years since Disney entered China, and the news that legoland has settled in China keeps coming and going.

Before the news of legoland's settlement came out, the only super-large world theme park in the north was Universal Studios. In September, 20021,Beijing Universal Studios Theme Park opened in Tongzhou. The data shows that after the opening, it received 6.5438+0.5 million tourists every day, and the number of tourists on weekends reached about 30,000.

Zhang Mingyang, a senior researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, told the China Report that Universal Studios Beijing has brought a huge number of tourists and considerable income to Beijing, which has promoted the surrounding areas and even the whole northern tourism industry. In Zhang Mingyang's view, the layout of legoland in Beijing reflects the huge space between Beijing and the North in the theme park market to some extent.

According to the published data, Universal Studios Beijing has a planned construction area of 4 square kilometers. In contrast, the area of legoland is much smaller.

Different from the IP projects of many film and television works such as Disneyland and Universal Studios, legoland mainly uses building blocks as the carrier to carry entertainment projects. Lin Huanjie, president of China Theme Park Research Institute, told reporters that legoland mainly targets young people. "These people belong to passive consumer groups, and most of them are young people. They have neither economic strength nor limited time to play." In his view, legoland's audience is not as wide as Universal Studios and Disneyland, and its interactivity and story content are weaker than the latter two.

"But that doesn't mean it has no market in China." Lin Huanjie pointed out to reporters that the field of professional children's theme parks in China is blank at present, and the presence of legoland can fill this vacancy. For Beijing, the theme park for teenagers also has a certain supplementary significance to Beijing's theme entertainment industry.

Not vicious competition.

According to the published news, the first Jialegong Park in China will open in Meishan City, Sichuan Province in 2023. Shenzhen and Shanghai are close behind.

According to the industry forecast, if Beijing and other four Jialegong Parks are successfully opened, they will occupy three China's first tier cities cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and Chengdu with a population of 40 million in southwest China.

Previously, legoland had successfully landed in Britain, the United States and Germany, but compared with Universal Studios and Disneyland, legoland's popularity in China and even Asia was not high. What worries Lin Huanjie is how legoland, which has never been deeply cultivated in China before, can adapt to the tourists and markets in China.

"As an international brand, legoland has great difficulties in flexibility." How to implant China elements into its original building block technology is the key to its integration into the China market. Lin Huanjie told reporters that the core of legoland is its building block carrier. Once it is over-transformed, its original attraction and brand influence will be discarded.

According to Zhang Mingyang's observation, if legoland wants to develop well in China, it must adapt to the changing needs of China tourists, find and strengthen the differentiation with other theme parks, and enhance the loyalty and repurchase rate of sticky users. He suggested adding some localized products suitable for different age groups to attract more tourists.

"This is not to divert tourists from Universal Studios." Zhang Mingyang told reporters. As two well-known international theme parks in the northern market, there is a concern that after the opening of legoland, tourists from Universal Studios will be diverted, or vicious competition will be formed.

In Zhang Mingyang's view, the entertainment projects of Universal Studios are usually more exciting and have a great sense of IP. It is a national theme park suitable for all ages, more comprehensive and more entertaining; Legoland, on the other hand, pays more attention to appreciating vivid scenery and hands-on pleasure. It is a professional theme park with more dedicated products.

He further pointed out that from the market point of view, users in legoland are more sticky and do not need to poach tourists from competitors' parks. At the same time, legoland can also form a linkage with Universal Studios, and the two forms a complementary relationship, and there is no vicious competition in the traditional sense. The opening of Universal Studios has promoted the popularity of Happy Valley and improved its operating conditions, which is a good example.

Since the opening of the first phase of 1998 shenzhen happy valley, Happy Valley has been operating in China for more than 20 years. Lin Huanjie took Beijing as an example. He believes that legoland's competitors in Beijing are not only Universal Studios Beijing, but also Happy Valley. Happy Valley, as a paradise suitable for all ages, is more cost-effective, and as a local brand, it is more independent, and it can attract tourists by setting up different theme activities, and the flexibility of legoland is a weakness.

It is a "golden age", but it will also be a big wave.

Many practitioners in the cultural tourism industry have found that although the domestic tourism industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic in recent two years, the theme park industry has maintained a rapid growth trend.

Incomplete statistics show that during the epidemic period, there were nearly 20 new theme parks in China, and the number of theme parks in China exceeded 340. Experts interviewed generally believe that theme parks in China are in a "golden age".

Previously, the Competitiveness Evaluation Report of 20021China Theme Parks showed that by the end of 20 19, there were 339 theme parks in China, of which 25% were at a loss, 22% were flat and 53% were profitable (operating).

Zhang Mingyang, who is engaged in the research of cultural tourism industry, told China that the rapid growth of theme parks depends on the continuous improvement of consumer market demand. At present, the pattern of theme parks in first-tier cities in China is basically determined, and the market of theme parks in second, third and fourth-tier cities is still expanding.

Zhang Mingyang pointed out that compared with the vigorous development of quantity, there are still few competitive projects in domestic theme parks, especially high-quality projects. China's theme parks still have many shortcomings in facilities innovation, operational thinking, IP attraction and anti-risk ability, and there is still much room for improvement in consumer groups and consumption structure.

He pointed out that the entry of international brands will increase the competition in the theme park market in China to a certain extent, and on this basis, promote the "survival of the fittest" of the industry. Lin Huanjie judged that a number of small and medium-sized theme parks with poor geographical location, inadequate design and no classic projects will be eliminated in the next five years. "International brands have landed strongly and local brands have accelerated their elimination." Lin Huanjie said that there is still a long way to go for local amusement park brands to break through international brands and form their own unique competitive advantages.