New Theme Park for ….?

In the early years of publishing Australasian Leisure Management magazine, every six months or so we would learn about and then publish a news story with a headline that can best be recalled as ‘New theme park for Queensland’.
After a few years, the reality of the attractions market in south-east Queensland led us to view such news with some scepticism as these proposed theme parks never materialised, usually as a result of a lack of funds, land or adequate business planning.
In this climate, operators such as Village Roadshow Theme Parks and Dreamworld (now owned by Ardent Leisure) should be applauded for the thoughtful and adaptive way they have developed and marketed Seaworld, Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet 'n' Wild Waterworld, Dreamworld and its adjunct Whitewater World.
Even though both groups have recorded significant increases in profits for the last financial year, operating theme parks in Australia is a precarious activity suited only to south-east Queensland – as witnessed by the closure at Sydney attractions Fox Studios, Sega World and Wonderland Sydney early in the last decade.
Catering for a small (by global standards) local market, both groups have been imaginative in how they have approached their visitor market, relying, in most years, on a three way visitor split between the local south-east Queensland market, the rest of Australia and visitors from overseas.
Within these segments, they have also been flexible, shifting overseas marketing efforts between regions and countries as markets and/or economic conditions changed.
For another development to enter this market, has, as we have seen, not been possible.
With the growth of Asian leisure markets and the reach of this publication (and particularly the online industry http://www.ausleisure.com/ news service, which is updated daily), we now regularly learn about new theme park plans across Asia.
The immediacy of online news means it is tempting to publish stories about ‘New theme park for …’ cities in China, India or any other growing Asian economy. However, mindful that not all of these developments will break ground we resist publishing such news until the developments are a reality.
Yet the growth of the leisure market in Asia means a remarkable and bewildering array of new attractions are being built in Asia.
As a result, where Asians used to travel to the Gold Coast to visit Australia’s theme parks and attractions, with such attractions in their own countries, they are unlikely to do so again. Combined with the strength of the Australian dollar and the decline in domestic tourism, the attractions of the Gold Coast and indeed all of Australia, are going to have to be very imaginative in reaching new markets.
And with Asian attractions such as Singapore’s Resort World Sentosa (sited in a city that was a traditional stopover for Australians and New Zealanders travelling to Asia and beyond) attracting Australasian visitors you wonder whether Australia will ever again witness the development of another new theme park.
That this may be a reality could explain why it has been a long time since we have received any information on any new planned theme park in Queensland.
Nigel Benton is Publisher of Australasian Leisure Management.
http://www.ausleisure.com/