China’s theme parks are bouncing back to pre-pandemic growth as pent-up travel demand sparks tourism boom, says Fitch

China’s theme park industry will resume strong growth and sustain recovery momentum this year thanks to a post-Covid tourism boom, analysts at Fitch Ratings said.

During the five-day May Day holiday last week, long queues and crowds were seen at the country’s theme parks, a sign they have become “early beneficiaries” of a tourism recovery after Beijing abandoned its tough pandemic restrictions.

Tickets for both Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing almost sold out ahead of the holiday. Some 92,000 visitors arrived at Atlantis Sanya, a water park in southern Hainan Province during the so-called golden week, more than four times the number in the same period last year, according to data from Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.

The theme park industry is expected to “regain the strong pre-pandemic growth in 2023” thanks to the release of pent-up leisure travel demand, said Flora Zhu, director of corporate ratings at Fitch.

“We are also optimistic about the industry’s long-term growth prospects,” she said, citing strong demand, and growth in customer spending in China.

Haichang Ocean Park, Asia’s largest water park operator, said the “booming” tourism market had boosted its average daily admissions by 105 per cent during the May Day holiday from the same period in 2019, before the coronavirus emerged. Compared to 2022, when pandemic curbs were at their height, attendance and revenue soared nearly sixfold and eightfold, respectively.

In Beijing, UK-based Merlin Entertainments is reportedly to begin construction of Legoland park this year to tap the country’s recovery.

“Final results are showing that the [tourism] market has actually returned to pre-pandemic levels,” said Zhu.

According to Fitch, the recovery of the theme park industry, in turn, could pick up speed in the first half of 2023, bringing profitability and cash flow generation back to pre-pandemic levels. Full-year attendance is also forecast to surpass levels seen before Covid-19.

Up until 2019, Chinese theme parks had enjoyed strong growth, with six of them making it into the top 25 global theme parks by attendance, versus only two in 2013. They also dominated the Asia-Pacific top 20 parks by attendance, with more than a 50 per cent share.

The three leading operators, Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town (OCT), Fantawild Holdings, and Chimelong Group, had a combined attendance of 141 million in 2019, up from 42 million in 2012. This boosted their share of global park attendance to 27 per cent from 12 per cent during that period.

OCT replaced Universal Parks and Resorts to become the world’s third-largest theme park group in 2019.

Infrastructure consulting firm Aecom said the number of theme parks in China rose from less than 50 in 2008 to 156 by the end of 2020.

More are set to open this year, especially in eastern, central and southwest China. OCT Group’s Happy Valley park in Xi’an and Haichang’s water park in Zhengzhou are scheduled to open this year, while Fantawild also expects to launch projects in Zhengzhou, Yingtian, and Jinning.

Fitch said rising gross domestic product (GDP) and household incomes, as well as large populations in these regions are behind the increasing demand for theme park entertainment.

While there are only a few foreign players in the China market, Zhu said they are expanding their presence in the country.

“We are expecting more parks from foreign companies to be launched from 2024, and this will lead to a change in market competitive landscapes in the next few years,” she said.