Under the trend of integrating culture, commerce, and tourism, "de-parkification" is a viable solution. But what exactly is "de-parkification"? Ultimately, the success of a theme park or commercial establishment hinges on its ability to be both critically acclaimed and commercially successful—first attracting visitors and then enticing them to spend money.
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Editor-in-Chief | Yang Ming
Editor | Jing Xiangyuan
Source | Space Impression Commercial Design
Not relying on ticket sales
How to find another way out?
Shunde OCT Happy Coast plus was the first park to launch "open-style operation," i.e., "free entry," breaking the traditional theme park's single-ticket pricing model. Items and goods are charged separately, achieving a high degree of integration between commerce and entertainment, eliminating the feeling of exclusion and bringing the commercial concept of "browse first, see first, then pay" into the park.
While seemingly foregoing ticket revenue, free entry can stimulate consumers' "good deal" and "I'm already here" mentality, potentially significantly increasing the repurchase rate of popular amusement projects and small restaurants within the park. Increased visitor flow also enhances the park's commercial exposure and generates free publicity on social media, improving brand awareness.
Commercial establishments focus on repeat purchases, while theme parks prioritize thematic atmosphere and scene creation. Perhaps the solution for theme parks and shopping malls is to embrace each other's strengths—using amusement park thinking to create an atmosphere and commercial thinking to drive sales, achieving a cross-border integration of entertainment and commerce, ushering in a new era of retail entertainment.
Theme park commerce must be compatible with local consumption
The commercial town of Guilin Sunac International Tourism Resort uses an "open-style theme park + cultural tourism commercial street" model to reverse the subordinate relationship of traditional theme park commerce. The project prioritizes commerce, with the theme park playing a supporting role. The combined functions of the theme park and commercial areas create a synergistic effect, stimulating more consumption and attracting a wider range of customers than traditional single-commercial establishments.
As a cultural tourism project, if it cannot accommodate local consumption, it will often face devastating losses during the off-season, entering a vicious cycle. Furthermore, businesses that only serve tourists have limited business options and poor ability to generate repeat purchases and increased spending.
Additionally, Sunac's theme park differs from other theme parks in its focus on a specific entertainment activity, such as Hot Snow Miracle and Water World. It also incorporates several professional brands and collection stores of skiing equipment, creating the country's first full-ski equipment street. From its inception, it clearly defined its target audience, vertically building a pan-entertainment sports consumption ecosystem and creating a differentiated entertainment experience to enhance the high stickiness of its target customer group.
Integrate experiential businesses
Break the homogeneity of "theme park + commercial supporting facilities"
Stimulate secondary consumption
Ticket sales alone can no longer support theme park operations; on-site secondary consumption is essential. How can domestic theme parks find their unique characteristics?
Disney's characteristic is IP, Universal's is film and television. Find your own unique characteristics and then cultivate them. From Guangzhou, Zhuhai to Qingyuan, from zoos, ocean kingdoms, and circuses to theme parks,
Changlong has been committed to the research and development of animal breeding and reproduction technology, creating many firsts for domestic theme parks.
Changlong Spaceship Park is a high-investment, interactive entertainment project with a significant upgrade, bringing urban entertainment into the theme park. Compared with traditional theme parks, the play and educational functions have undergone a qualitative leap, with the ratio of play to education increasing from 8:2 to 5:5. It innovatively introduced an immersive task-based gameplay in the park, greatly enhancing the play experience through advanced technology and immersive entertainment scenarios.
Head theme park brands such as Disney and Changlong occupy the first and second-tier city markets in China, while Fantasi focuses on third and fourth-tier cities. In 2023, its visitor numbers topped Asia. While developing its national IP—Boonie Bears—in addition to the usual Happy World and Water Parks, Fantasi is more noteworthy for its theme parks based on Chinese culture, mythology, and local urban culture, differentiating itself from other theme parks on the market, with more than ten themed parks such as Oriental Painting, Oriental Dawn, Silk Road Mythology, ASEAN Mythology, Dinosaur Kingdom, and National Colors and Autumn.
Fantasi's revenue mainly comes from cultural and technological theme parks and cultural content products and services. In the first half of 2024, its operating revenue was approximately RMB 3.267 billion, of which cultural and technological theme parks accounted for approximately RMB 2.43 billion, and cultural content products accounted for approximately RMB 833 million. Special film revenue, as part of cultural content products, reached RMB 291 million, with a very high year-on-year growth rate. This mainly relies on the effect of Fantasi's exclusive national IP—Boonie Bears—using IP to drive park revenue.
IP is a major missing piece in domestic theme parks, but it can bring amazing returns.
Haichang Ocean Park, without developing its own IP, chose IP collaboration, including the world's first Ultraman theme hall, One Piece, Mole Village, Doraemon, and other popular IPs, creating exclusive performances and Haichang Ocean Park limited peripherals to attract a large number of fans. This is also a major measure for Haichang Ocean Park's shift to a light asset operation model.
According to Haichang Ocean Park's 2024 semi-annual report, total revenue was 800 million yuan, park operating revenue was 767 million yuan, ticket revenue was 376 million yuan, and in-park consumption revenue was 263 million yuan. The gap between ticket revenue and in-park consumption is gradually narrowing. Part of the cultural and creative peripherals come from collaborative IPs, while another part comes from Haichang Ocean Park's "Ocean Plan." Leveraging its polar marine animal conservation technology, it creates a theme park integrating entertainment, sightseeing, shopping, science education, and culture, showcasing marine culture and highlighting the characteristics of coastal cities.
Nowadays, offline theme spaces are becoming increasingly competitive, with the upcoming opening of
Netflix's offline theme park developed using film and television IPs
and Pop Mart's offline theme park developed using its IPs, etc. Theme parks are no longer simply pursuing scale; instead, smaller spaces and refined products can attract a large number of consumers. The possibilities for theme parks are increasing, giving creators more room to unleash their imagination.
In the future, the commercialization of theme parks and the theming of commercial spaces will be the correct approach to saving themselves. The theme park industry is not a completed project; it is always in progress and requires constant innovation. Domestic theme parks do not need to copy Disney, but Disney's vision is one they can share—as long as there is imagination in the world, Disneyland will never be finished.
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