JoshC.
Strata Poster
Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, which surprised me since it was announced on Friday..
A new Legoland park will open in Sichuan, China in 2023:
It's hardly a surprise that Merlin are doing this, what with the rapidly growing (perhaps unsustainably so?) theme park market in China, with Disney already there, and Universal and Six Flags getting in on the action too.
This has been in the works for a LONG time, and there were rumours that they were looking at a more southern location too. Sichuan is more centrally located in China, and I think it's fair to say it's further away from the more usual foreign tourist sites (which is more Beijing, Shanghai and southern China)? So I'd guess they're doing this to try and really tap into the Chinese audience. I don't think there's many, if any, major family-focused parks in the area, so a Legoland / family park in that area has the potential to be successful.
There's questions as to whether Merlin should still be expanding of course, and when you look at their recent investor reports, it seems like they're cooling off China a bit. However, it's no secret that Merlin loves expanding their portfolio, so this was always a case of when, not if, it was going to happen.
A new Legoland park will open in Sichuan, China in 2023:
It's hardly a surprise that Merlin are doing this, what with the rapidly growing (perhaps unsustainably so?) theme park market in China, with Disney already there, and Universal and Six Flags getting in on the action too.
This has been in the works for a LONG time, and there were rumours that they were looking at a more southern location too. Sichuan is more centrally located in China, and I think it's fair to say it's further away from the more usual foreign tourist sites (which is more Beijing, Shanghai and southern China)? So I'd guess they're doing this to try and really tap into the Chinese audience. I don't think there's many, if any, major family-focused parks in the area, so a Legoland / family park in that area has the potential to be successful.
There's questions as to whether Merlin should still be expanding of course, and when you look at their recent investor reports, it seems like they're cooling off China a bit. However, it's no secret that Merlin loves expanding their portfolio, so this was always a case of when, not if, it was going to happen.
