New Beijing News, Shell Finance News (Reporter Zheng Yijia) Coincidentally, it coincides with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Walt Disney Company. Since the beginning of this year, two Disney parks located in China have been busy. On December 20th, the "Zootopia" theme park of Shanghai Disneyland Resort officially opened. This is the eighth theme park of Shanghai Disneyland and the first park in the world with the theme of "Zootopia".
Disney International Theme Park revenue increased by 55% year-on-year in the fourth quarter
According to the data, Shanghai Disney Resort disclosed its expansion plan for the second major expansion project of its theme park, "Zootopia," in January 2019. In the "Zootopia" park, tourists will transform into new police officers from the Zootopia Police Department, following Officer Judy and Nick on a pursuit journey. During the pursuit process, tourists in all terrain vehicles will slide over the ice surface of Glacier Town, search for fugitives on the streets of Sahara Square, and encounter friends from Zootopia along the way.
It is reported that Shanghai Disneyland is the fastest expanding Disneyland in the world after its opening. The first major expansion project of Shanghai Disneyland, the Disney Pixar Toy Story Park, officially opened in April 2018.
On November 20th, Hong Kong Disneyland welcomed the world's first and largest "Ice and Snow" themed park - Magic and Snow World. On December 16th, Hong Kong Disneyland welcomed its 100th tourist, becoming one of the operational milestones of the park.
In the past two months, Hong Kong and Shanghai have successively welcomed new parks, and these two theme parks have effectively driven the performance of Disney's experience department.
According to Disney's latest fourth quarter report, the experience department under the theme park achieved revenue of $8.16 billion during the reporting period, a year-on-year increase of 13%. Among them, international theme park revenue increased by 55% year-on-year to $1.665 billion. The operating profit was 1.759 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 31%. Among them, the international theme park increased by over 100% year-on-year to 441 million US dollars. Disney clearly pointed out in its financial report that Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disney Resort have become the driving forces for the growth of the international theme park sector, partly due to the increase in tourist expenses after the increase in ticket prices, and partly as a result of the increase in tourist numbers.
The rise of local theme parks and Disney's acceleration of theme park sector development
The opening of the new park has further injected a strong shot into the development of these two theme parks. One of the IPs, Zootopia, is still the highest grossing imported animated film in China. Since the release of "Frozen", Disney has sold over 800 million authorized products in Greater China. It is understood that Disney China's authorized consumer goods performance will continue to maintain double-digit growth in 2023.
Why did Disney place these two IPs in China? Firstly, it's because the theme park market in Asia, especially in China, is very large, and Disney is also very optimistic about the Chinese market. Secondly, after a long period of market research, Disney has determined the love of Chinese tourists for these two IPs. In addition, Disney has always adopted a "three three three system", which means phasing out one-third of the hardware every year and building one-third of the projects to maintain harmony Enhance the attractiveness and freshness of the amusement park Lin Huanjie, President of the China Theme Park Research Institute, said.
On the other hand, due to the uniqueness of IP projects, industry insiders believe that the landing of these two new parks will contribute to the development of inbound tourism in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, Shanghai received 2.299 million inbound tourists and is expected to attract over 3 million inbound tourists within the year. From January to October this year, Hong Kong received a total of 26.7808 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 8009.9%, including 21.3883 million mainland tourists.
However, Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, which hold top IPs, cannot be said to have peace of mind. According to statistics from the China Academy of Theme Parks, there are currently 80 large and extra large theme parks in China, an increase of 12 compared to 2022. The number of theme parks is on the rise, with a total reception of about 75.7361 million tourists and a total operating income of about 15.359 billion yuan. At the same time, about 60% of theme parks are distributed in the five major urban agglomerations, and the industrial cluster effect is significant.
"There are many brands in China's theme park market, and the world's first and second tier theme park brands are entering China, such as Universal Studios, Lego, Paramount, etc. There are also many strong local brands, such as Fante, OCT, etc., with a large number of theme parks, while Disney has only entered six cities in the world," said Lin Huanjie, "These brands may not be as good as Disneyland alone, but to some extent, they will consume some Disney visitors because for many tourists, going to Shanghai Disneyland requires careful planning, while theme parks at their doorstep can be accessed at any time. Disney is actually making necessary preparations for market competition, and the rise of local theme parks will also bring pressure to it."
Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney, said that Disney has invested in the right projects at the right time in the past and achieved huge growth. The company will use the same strategy again to accelerate the development of theme parks and other sectors. In September of this year, Disney announced the acceleration and expansion of investment in its parks, experiences, and product departments, with an expected investment of approximately $60 billion over the next decade to expand the scale of its theme park and cruise business.